Somehow We Forgot Almost $1 Million at Airport Security

By Megan Reynolds April 17, 2017

Check the little tray where you put your wallet next time.

Here is a fact that I found astonishing but maybe you will not: in 2016, TSA apparently collected $867, 812.39 in loose change from those little bedpan-esque bowls and dish tubs you put your stuff in before going through airport security.

How travelers left a nearly $1 million tip to the TSA in 2016

The amount of money for 2016 is over $100,000 more than was left behind in 2015; as per CNBC, the amount is steadily increasing. They attribute it to more travellers — makes sense — but what blows my mind is how you’d forget to check. Leaving $5 in loose change behind in a bowl while you’re frantically trying to shove your shoes back on your feet and find your belt once or twice happens. But what “valuables” are we talking about here? I’m sure there are some poor souls who have left their wallets at airport security and not realized until they were settling into to buy a mini-wine on their flight. As a reformed abandoner of wallets, I am extra cautious when I travel; I check the bins twice every time.

So what happens to the money? A 2005 law says that TSA can keep the money for civil aviation security efforts. In the past two years, they used it to expand the TSA Precheck program. They haven’t decided what they’re going to do with 2016’s cash yet. Travel experts told CNBC that they recommend stashing you change, wallet, phone, antique belt buckle and whatever other metal things you have to remove from your person before walking through the x-ray machine in your shoe. I say just check the bin! Check the bin. Or leave almost a million dollars behind.

The Second Sort-Of Annual Change Bowl Guessing Game

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