We do not keep your items, TSA says of fliers’ property

Question: How is it that a TSA agent at the airport can take your personal property and keep it forever? I had a very special pocketknife with significant meaning to me. By mistake I left it in my purse, where I always carry it, while going through security, and a TSA agent insisted I give it to them unless I did not want to board my $2,000 flight. Why isn’t there a way for me to retrieve my property or a way to tag my property and have it mailed to me at my expense? I understand that I couldn’t take it on the flight, but I should be able to get it back. I know it seems that I voluntarily gave it to them, but when given a choice at gunpoint, you give up your wallet.

Answer: TSA does give you options to retain your property before you board, but, as you noted, it’s at the risk of missing your flight.

"TSA finds hundreds of thousands, if not millions of (prohibited/illegal) items every year," and the logistics and staffing necessary in returning items "is not reasonable," said Nico Melendez, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. "The best advice is to not bring the item to the airport."

Because complaints like yours pop up "every now and then," Melendez wrote a post on the TSA’s official blog site a few years ago explaining the situation: 1.usa.gov/1BS4gGz.

At the point a prohibited item is flagged, a passenger does have some choices:

» Go back to the airline and place the item in a checked bag.

» If there is a post office or mailing service available at the airport, mail the item back home.

» If your car is parked at the airport, take the item to the car.

» If someone is seeing you off, hand the item to them.

Granted, none of these options might work if there’s a chance you could miss your flight.

While upset passengers might consider surrendered items "confiscated," TSA considers them "voluntary abandoned property," Melendez said.

The bottom line is that they are treated as "excess government property."

As such, the TSA must follow General Services Administration guidelines for disposition.

Contrary to what many people may believe, TSA workers don’t get to take them home.

"Many airports use a TSA-provided contractor who collects the ‘stuff’ and disposes of it … quite literally, throws it away," Melendez said. "Or, as some airports do, we donate items to approved, nonprofit organizations in accordance w/GSA regulations."

He emphasized, "TSA does not sell or profit in any way from the selling of this voluntarily abandoned property."

Melendez also noted that dealing with the voluminous amounts of liquids collected daily at airports is "another story." Basically, whether it’s liquor, water, lotions "and everything in between," all liquids are disposed of.

"Early on, there was a move to donate the liquid items to local homeless shelters but we were forced to suspend that practice after the determination was made that there is a liability risk," he wrote. "We couldn’t continue to donate items and not know if the water was truly water or if the shampoo was truly shampoo."

Prohibited Items

To find out what items are prohibited as carry-ons, but can be put in checked-in luggage, or are outright prohibited, go to the TSA’s website: www.tsa.gov/traveler-information.

The TSA cautions that even if an item is permitted, it still may be subject to more screening or may not be allowed if it triggers an alarm, appears to have been tampered with or poses other security concerns.

Mahalo

To a kind woman. When I went to pay for my lunch at Shirokiya’s at Ala Moana Center, the cashier said the lady in front of me had already paid for me. I looked for her to thank her, but the place was so crowded and she was gone. I read in Kokua Line about doing this for people they don’t really know, but I couldn’t believe it happened to me. Whoever you are, God bless you. — A Senior Citizen

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