Next time, tell the gate agent to turn the badge around, and failing to do so, call a cop (or soldier) and tell them you're being harassed by the gate agent, and you want to see their ID.

Honestly… you're a wimp for not demanding to see their employee information – you have that right, and even the TSA would back you up on that one.

As for watching someone else's bag – although you meant well, I'd recommend you refuse to do that in the future. Simply saying "I'm sorry, but I really don't want to be responsible for your things – if anything happened it would be my fault, and it's not fair of you to ask me for that when we don't even know each other."

you must accompany your luggage at all times, you hear that all the time, and they didn't obide by it, so the flight attendant took the bag and called TSA for inspection (remember that people were/are scared of flying soon after)

and yeah they would inspect both, because who knows if the person looking after the bags could have put something in them

leaving your bags for any reason looks suspicious, you don't know what may happen so yeah its best to get it checked out

its best to search them and make sure, rather than let it go and god forbid something does happen

They did 'the right thing' by taking her bags and having the two people searched, merely because she took a restroom break?

What sense does that make? Really. Answer that.

HOW is that sensible in ANY fashion?

Will the bags randomly explode because she is not near them? Is that it?

Will she or he SUDDENLY TURN OUT TO BE TERRORISTS because she had to use the restroom?

I agree 100% with the writer of this story.

He wrote in a mature manner that did not feel pretentious or disingenuous.

And obviously madachode is from Darwin's waiting room. See his previous posts. He can't even spell the name of the airbase in his home state correctly. And Missouri does have a "u" in it.

if they are not your bags than you have no idea what is in them, so i would have said that the flight attendant and TSA did the correct thing, and took action, they may have done it in a more polite way, but they did the right thing

and just because you saw what happened doesn't mean you know the implications and think you can get away with things, i saw it happen too, and some people in my town were in those buildings, and my neighbor accross the street escaped, and he doesnt believe he knows the implications, all we know is that security was and will be tight