140 Checked Bags At LAX Vandalized With ‘Free Palestine’ Stickers—El Al Flight Departs Without Them

“Free Palestine” stickers were found attached to 140 checked bags belonging to passengers on El Al’s Los Angeles – Tel Aviv flight LY6 on Monday.

The Boeing 787-9 was scheduled depart at 2 p.m. Passengers were first told of a 25-minute delay related to baggage.

According to a passenger, the captain and purser later explained that the stickers caused the bags to be treated as a security concern. Bags had to be individually inspected to rule out explosives.

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Because the inspection process was taking too long, El Al departed without the 140 bags. The flight pushed back 62 minutes late.

• The flight was “largely filled” with Israelis returning home after NBA All Star weekend events, watching Israeli player Deni Avdija.

• Passengers reportedly became frustrated and one complained that a suitcase contained a dress for a daughter’s wedding. The purser reportedly responded: “It’s better to arrive safely without the suitcase than the alternative.”

• On arrival in Israel, passengers received notices that their luggage did not travel and was expected to be flown on the next day’s flight.

LAX Tom Bradley Terminal TSA Security

According to the airline, the bags were screened and flown to Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

The stickers were most likely applied after passenger drop off at check-in, because of the scale and passenger surprise. The delay wasn’t because of the slogan, but because:

• Someone accessed the flight’s checked bags
  
• Displaying an animus towards Israel
  
• Which suggests motive and opportunity to create a threat to the flight

Then once the volume of bags for hand search exceeded a tolerable level, suggesting a sufficiently long delay, the airline chose to operate the flight rather than wait for security procedures to be completed.

It’s likely that an airside ground worker with access to the baggage system did this. A worker with a sheet or roll of stickers could apply them quickly as bags pass on a belt or sit staged on carts. This likely occurred in a restricted work area with badge-controlled access. There’s a reasonable change of CCTV coverage, though it could have been done in a spot or at an angle without camera recording, though the number of bags make it more likely to be caught on video than a single sticker.

LAX Tom Bradley Terminal

Bags would have entered the terminal’s baggage handling system from ticket counters. They’d gone through in-line screening (the North Matrix In-Line Screening facility) and there are two baggage inspection rooms and the TSA’s On-Screen Resolution room for followup on bags that alarm.

There is also a Baggage Control Room where the system operator monitors jams, loading conditions, etc. Bags are routed by Automatic Tag Reader to the assigned flight sort pier if it’s open, or for early bag storage. This is all followed by cart loading, ramp staging, and aircraft loading.

Since we’re talking about hitting bags for a specific flight, it seems like the most likely point for stickers to be applied would be the sort pier for this flight. Staffing rosters, access logs, and camera footage may make it possible to identify the perpetrator. You’re probably looking at a ramp or bag room agent.

Whomever did this certainly loses badge access at the airport quickly. It’s a program violation to cause a “major disruption to airport operations” including flight delays and screening operations. That alone almost certainly means termination. SIDA badge misuse could lead to TSA penalties of $17,062 per violation.

There’s likely both a role here for TSA and the LAX FBI field office. If the suspect was in the area in violation of airport requirements, criminal penalties could attach (or if they could plausibly be framed to have interefered with security screening). Separately, they might face state or local vandalism charges.