Sky Harbor travelers left behind more than $11K at checkpoints in 2018
May 29, 2019, 6:30 PM
(Getty Images Photo/Michael Nagle)
(Getty Images Photo/Michael Nagle)
PHOENIX – When you empty your pockets while going through security, don’t forget the change.
Visitors to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport last year left behind more than $11,000 worth of cash, mostly loose coins, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
That was just a drop in the bucket of the nearly $1 million unclaimed at airports nationwide in 2018.
The TSA plans to use the windfall on checkpoint training requirements, the agency said Wednesday in a press release.
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In 2005, Congress gave the TSA the authority to spend unclaimed funds on security.
The TSA says it makes every effort to return items left at checkpoints to their owners. However, when travelers forget to grab their change, it usually isn’t claimed.
Sky Harbor visitors walked off without $11,340.91 in 2018, but they were more careful than the previous year, when they left behind $14,391.48.
The Phoenix airport wasn’t even among the top 20 on the list of unintentional contributors in 2018.
The top three were John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York ($72,392), Los Angeles International Airport ($71,748) and Miami International Airport ($50,504).
The national total was $960,105.49, nearly $100,000 more than the previous year.
