Passenger and Cabin Baggage Screening Procedures
The screening sequence
Passenger and cabin baggage screening follows a defined sequence: identity and boarding document check, divestment, X-ray or body screening, resolution of alarms, and hand search where required. Candidates must know why each step exists and what happens when a step is skipped or performed out of order.
Concepts to understand
Understand the difference between random and targeted selection, the role of trace detection, the rules for liquids, aerosols and gels, and the handling of electronic devices. Know the procedures for pat-down search, the use of walk-through and hand-held metal detectors, and body scanners, including the requirement for alternative screening where offered. Understand sterile area integrity and the risk of items passed between passengers after screening.
Traps in questions
- Screening the bag but not reconciling it with the passenger.
- Allowing an item to be passed back through the divestment area to another person.
- Treating a cleared X-ray image as final without resolving ambiguous areas.
- Forgetting that a passenger may decline one method but must still be screened by an acceptable alternative, or denied travel.
Rule of thumb
"No bag without a passenger, no passenger without a check." Every cabin bag must be attributable to a screened passenger, and every alarm must be resolved before the item enters the sterile area.