I apologize for my lack of clarity, railroadtycoon understands my thought process.
I advise my children to do as I do, and always take the cables in carry-on luggage, so if a checked bag goes missing, we will still be able to charge phones (as well as all the other stuff that has chargers, of course). We've all done this many times, and my daughter and I did it quite recently on the same route. Most people do this, right??? Ok, my business travel husband doesn't, but I think most people do.

I hope to get the full story out of our son, but so far, I don't know the circumstances. His friend called his mom, who relayed the information to us, but we haven't been in direct communication with our son yet - this happened yesterday. The charger was in his carry-on bag.

I just feel like my son is less safe right now, thanks to the TSA.