BackStamping of hand baggage tags to be scrapped at 7 airports from April: CISF
The hand baggage will not be stamped at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kochi airports
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New Delhi: Passengers flying out of seven major airports will be exempt from getting their hand baggage stamped, a rule introduced decades ago as a security measure.
The airports are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kochi.
“The present system of stamping hand baggage tags at pre-embarkation security check points for these seven airports shall be dispensed wef (with effect from) 1st April," O.P. Singh, director general, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said in a statement.
The step will enhance passenger experience and will provide a hassle-free security environment at airports without compromising with the security requirements, Singh said.
Appropriate measures have been taken to upgrade the security system to adopt this new system for the convenience of the passengers, CISF’s Singh added in the statement.
The system will also speed up security checking. Currently, passengers have to get their hand baggage stamped by security staff after the x-ray. The stamp is then checked at the boarding gate.
In case of a lapse or loss of bag tag, the passenger has to go back to the security gate, which could potentially lead to missed flights or delays—both for the passenger and the airline.
This practice of stamping hand baggage was introduced during the late 1970s as an anti-hijacking measure but over time, x-ray machines have made it superfluous.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, under the aviation ministry, ordered stopping the practice of stamping hand baggage at major airports in a 23 February order. This was later challenged by security agencies and withdrawn pending review by the security agencies.
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