Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 270; Flight Crew Total 14500; Flight Crew Type 1496
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Security; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General Work Refused; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
During boarding the gate agent informed me that a passenger had mistakenly put their laptop in a bag; and then gate-checked the bag. When I found out about this; the bag had already been removed from the jetway and was in the cargo hold of the airplane. Of course; there was now a problem. I can't have a Li-ion battery in the cargo compartment; and because the gate check bag had left the jetway the only way to get it plane side it per policy (and TSA; presumably) is to send it through baggage claim and the security checkpoint. Unfortunately; I knew of no way around this policy. In an effort to find a workaround; I called the Chief Pilot [who then] consulted with corporate security; and informed me of the following: 'Yes; from corporate security per the letter of the policy; that is correct' [paraphrase begins] However; if you saw fit to look the other way; and have the bag brought up and have the passenger be supervised while their laptop was retrieved; you could be assured that the bag was still safe as was the laptop.' When I asked if I could get either an ACARS message or an email from corporate security stating this; laughter was the answer with a quick dissembling that 'well; no; we can't do that.' And there's your answer. I did get a great suggestion from my First Officer (FO); who suggested that if a TSA person could come down from the TSA checkpoint (about 100 feet from the gate) and monitor the proceedings and rescreen the bag right there; that might be acceptable. While not clearly in the policy; this is a clear way to get the bag screened. The gate personnel informed [us] that this would take way too long; if it was possible at all. As far as I know; no effort was made to try this. (I could be completely wrong here though). At this point; my options were limited. I did; however; have three gate persons (at least one supervisor; and one gate agent; not sure of the third's status) standing on the jetway and in my flight deck telling me that 'we do this all the time; if a passenger accidentally checks medication or needs something else that is time-critical.' Also; I was informed by the gate agents that the baggage hold of the airplane is a secure area; and all of the baggage handlers are 'secure.' The follow on to this is that any bag could go down to the baggage bin and be retrieved. At the end of the day; I had to step off the airplane to force a decision. Unfortunately; the passenger and their bag was removed.
Airbus Captain reported security issues regarding retrieving a passenger bag to remove Lithium Ion battery prior to pushback.