TSA TO TRAVELERS: KNOW YOUR PROHIBITED ITEMS
Airplane tickets, check. Suitcase, stuffed full. In-flight entertainment, downloaded.
Even the most infrequent fliers know the basics of summer travel. But there are plenty of tips that will help speed you through the airport in the coming months.
The Transportation Security Administration is making a big push for travelers to make sure no prohibited items are in their bags so security lines aren’t held up as the items are removed and examined. Spokesman Nico Melendez was in Phoenix last month with a table full of items confiscated at security checkpoints in the previous 48 hours.
The hodgepodge looked like a yard-sale display, with brass knuckles, wrenches and other tools; knives; two souvenir baseball bats; a big snow globe; and two clubs that looked like something from the Flintstones.
“Some of the stuff has been on our prohibited list since 2002 when we came into airports,” Melendez said.
There are three ways to find out if an item is prohibited: Check the TSA website, call 866289-9673 or reach out on social media. The TSA’s Twitter handle is @AskTSA.
An agency representative answers questions on Twitter and via Facebook Messenger from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Ask before you go to the airport so you don’t have to surrender an item or mail it to yourself.
“It’s interactive and it’s simple,” Melendez said. “It’s about customer service. If passengers know what they can and cannot bring, it’s going to make our job easier.”
If you’re traveling out of certain gates in Phoenix and nine other airports, you also might be asked to take electronics like tablets out of your carry-on bags. The general rule is that laptops must be placed in a bin, but the TSA has been testing a program in which smaller electronics like iPads and Kindles come out.
“We’re trying to get passengers to help us declutter their bags,” Melendez said. “It makes our officers more efficient at their jobs. It’s easier to look at the bag if there’s less items in it.”