Originally Posted by
catocony
I've taken hundreds of international flights and have not once seen CBP or predecessor agencies stop anyone and confiscate anything on an outbound flight. No one I know has ever been stopped or searched, and I've never seen anyone else stopped or searched. So, it isn't very common at all.
You just aren't taking the right flights. Try getting on a flights to ZRH-- you may even encounter the cash-sniffing dog! They frequent those flights.
Originally Posted by
catocony
Regardless, the OP never indicated this was an outbound search, so we should assume it was a standard inbound immigration and customs check. The fact he was held for an hour and then let go pretty much confirms that since the plane wouldn't wait for someone.
Yup. I'm not sure what point
AirborneBevo was trying to make.
Originally Posted by
DesertNomad
I have never seen anyone stopped outbound, but for me it is pretty normal to have a large amount of cash in my home or on my person. I have spent a lot of time living in cash-only countries, in rather unstable situations. When in such places be it living or travelling, I always had enough cash on me to be able to go directly to the airport and pay cash for the next flight out.
That sort of thing is just prudent when people are being assassinated just down the road from my apartment... as was the VP of the local airline one evening.
I hope you carry under the $10,000 threashold.