Plastic wrapping luggage at airports?

[WOODMAN]

We just got back from our trip to Old Providence Island, and will be posting an exhaustive report on the South America forum very soon, but I noticed something on this trip that I haven't seen before. First, in the San Andres airport I noticed several guys in yellow shirts with rolls of plastic stretch wrapping film standing around at the ticketing area, and for a small fee they would completely mummify your luggage with plastic film, leaving small holes for the grip handles and for the drag wheels. Interesting. Then, the Copa airline clerk proceeded to fasten all the zippers on my bags with zip ties and then encase the luggage in big Copa-imprinted plastic bags (I had not bit on the mummy wraps, as I wasn't sure what was going on..). She said it would speed the bags through Panamanian security. Also interesting. And you know?- All of those ties and plastic bags were still in place when I got the bags back at Miami. I had stopped using any kind of zipper locks years ago, as TSA usually would just cut them off. The bags had been searched before they were sealed up, but this rather effectively stopped anyone from messing with the bags after they disappeared into the bag handling system. I thought this was maybe a foreign airport phenomenon, but then when I got to Miami I saw several stations near the check-in counters where you could plastic wrap your bags also. Is this a new wrinkle in luggage security? And has anyone else encountered this kind of thing? Woody

[vladimir]

Yes, I saw this for the first time at the airport in Bali last week. I didn't see the point, but I might if I were flying through Miami.

[Doc]

Plastic baggage wrap done in airports......

It is a service that is re-done by the same service later if your bags must be opened by "TSA", downstream while in the outbound process from that airport.

Next bag check, repeat.