What Happens to Your TSA Confiscated Items?
You are walking through metal detectors at airport security when a TSA agent asks the only question no one wants to hear, addressed to the crowd of travelers around you: whose bag is it? Before you know it, the agent will pull this oversized liquid out of your carry-on luggage and send you on the road.
If it was a bottle of water, you probably would n’t mind leaving it for safety, but what about more valuable items like, say, an expensive bottle of wine or beauty products? What exactly is going on with these items confiscated by TSA agents and is there a way to get them back?
Well, according to Sari Koshetz, a TSA spokesman, unfortunately after you have “abandoned” the subject in question, there is no way to get it directly from TSA. She explained that given the sheer number of items left behind by security, there will not be enough staff to handle refund requests.
Instead, one of three things can happen to your belongings left on guard. The first is obvious: it will just end up in the trash can . The fluids are thrown away, and no question, for example, as TSA has no way of determining if they have been tampered with. Secondly, TSA can donate your property to local charities and other non-profit organizations, writes USA Today .
Finally, depending on the subject matter, your belongings may just find a new home. Every airport that has received the Federal Transportation Security Administration has a contract with a government surplus agency that markets certain items from travelers for everyone to buy, Koschets said. While you may not be able to recover the item directly from the TSA, you could possibly do your local state agency surplus online search and re-purchase the missing item (although it might take a lot of work and research to find It).
They also don’t refer to the act of removing items from your bag as “confiscation,” and you have several options before ditching it altogether (assuming it’s not a weapon or hazardous material we’re talking about), according to Koshets. “If a person comes to our federal checkpoint with a prohibited item – it can be a knife, oversized liquid, brass knuckles – he has the opportunity to return to his car, if he is local, go back to the airline counter to check the item or refuse it “, – she said. “If they decide to leave it, then they have given up on it.”
For items that you may have accidentally forgotten after going through security, such as your laptop or phone, TSA is less strict; you generally have 30 days prior to departure to collect this item. You should contact your airport and contact the lost and found department. Or ask for a referral to a TSA representative who may know the whereabouts of your missing items.