check on ebay
 

There was a rumor that circulated around LAX a while back that the items that were confiscated, albeit not switchblades or dangerous weapons, were sold to a liquidator and they were on Ebay. I don't know if it's true or not, but there was something said about the money going into the general fund. As with most things at LAX not much could be verified (this was under Adm. Stones tenure as FSD) so I am not certain about it. Just thought I would put it out as a suggestion to check Ebay and you might just find it.


ab53 :confused:

"The Transportation Security Administration doesn't 'confiscate' items at checkpoints, spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said. Rather, they are 'surrendered,' she said."

"Millions of 'voluntarily abandoned' items are left at checkpoints during the year, she said. The agency follows U.S. General Services Administration regulations in disposing of voluntarily abandoned property, she said."

"At some airports, the items are turned over to lost and found departments and then discarded after a certain period of time. At others, the state agency collects the items and distributes or disposes of them according to state regulations."

Source: Q & A: Confiscated Items, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune (1/6/05)

Rep. Mica hit the nail on the head with his comment about Soviet-style bureaucracy. This is an excellent example of Orwellian newspeak.

Yup. When you have a choice between surrendering an item and an airline ticket, that's equivalent to confiscating. The government puts you in the position of losing your property either way you choose.

No items are "surrendered" when the owner of same has no idea they are being taken, is not informed in a timely manner, and is not even in the same room! Something removed from your luggage without your consent is either "confiscated" (government-speak) or "stolen" (normal-people-speak).

You probably aren't interested anyway, but here it goes:

At the screening checkpoint, you should be given several options on how you can keep a prohibited item. Keep in mind that illegal items such as narcotics, certain martial arts weapons and firearms fall under a different category and will be confiscated by a law enforcement officer not a screener. The options for keeping a prohibited item are:
As I said, you're probably not interested in these options because to you (and most other people) the inconvenience of properly disposing a prohibited item is not worth the extra hassle. So it's easier to accuse TSA of confiscating the item. If TSA screeners are not giving you these options, then you have a valid complaint, and I urge you to complain in writing to the airport FSD, airport manager, airline station manager and/or your Congressional representative.

Checked baggage falls under a different category. To you, this may seem like I'm splitting hairs; however, here's my perspective. When you check your bag in or hand it to a TSA screener, you should either be asked or there should be signs posted advising you that matches and lighters are prohibited from transport inside of checked luggage. If there are signs posted, the screener (or airline representative) is not obligated to ask you if you have these items in your baggage. By law, you've been advised. Nonetheless, I have my screeners still ask the question. If matches or lighters are discovered inside your checked luggage, they are automatically confiscated by TSA screeners. These are the only items that screeners are allowed to confiscate automatically. With everything else, either an airline representative or law enforcement officer is notified, depending on the item. For example, if hazardous material is found, such as a bottle of liquid bleach or non-toiletry aerosol can, an airline ground security coordinator, or GSC, is notified. The airline GSC is authorized to remove hazmat from passenger bags, TSA screeners are not (except for the two items I mentioned above). At this point, we cannot control how the airlines handle this. Most of the airlines I work with notify the passenger either immediately or in writing afterwards about the hazardous material removed from their bag. Again, not all airlines follow the same policy. If the item is an undeclared firearm, illegal drugs or other illegal/dangerous item, the LEO will confiscate it and the passenger will be notified immediately. That's because these situations normally end in an arrest because a crime has been committed.

Naysayers will attack this post accusing me of splitting hairs. It's your responsibility to make sure your bags are packed properly. The TSA web site publishes a list of what you may and may not take with you and which items you can and cannot place in checked baggage. IMHO, it appears that it's easier for people to dodge personal responsibility by blaming TSA screeners. This is a trend in our society, so I'm not surprised that people don't own up to their own actions. We've been following generally these same policies for three years now. Of all people who should know these policies, I thought frequent flyers would know better. But then again, that's an assumption on my part.

Just telling it like it is. None of this is meant to be personal.

If you would have taken the time to read my original post, you may have noticed that my empty Zippo was removed from my checked luggage - well after the luggage had scurried its way down the little conevryor belt and into the murky waters of TSA land.

No, there were no signs posted. No, no one asked me any questions. And this particular "hazardous" item probably had more flight hours that any TSA screener.

"We've been following generally these same policies for three years now."

And you would think that of the four dozen or so flights I've taken out of DCA in the past three years, some alert TSA screener would have "confiscated" this dangerous item. Usually, I just carried it in my pants pocket!

I hope some thief ... er, screener has no problem lighting his/her victory cigar with the lighter I carried in two wars.

Just telling it as it is. None of this is meant to be personal.

You missed the point. Currently, you are allowed to carry up to two lighters (Bic-type and Zippo) and four books of safety matches with you as carry-on items. You were never allowed to have these items in your checked baggage. If you had the Zippo in your checked baggage and it was never detected until recently, then you were beating the odds before finally getting caught. If you are telling me that you had no earthly idea that lighters and matches were not permitted in your checked luggage all this time (this regulation has remained unchanged and was in effect prior to 9/11), then I truly don't know what to say.

However, giving you the benefit of the doubt, I think you do have a valid complaint since neither TSA nor the airline advised you. You get no empathy from me for assuming that a screener stole your lighter. If you want to throw a tantrum over it, then do so and be done with it. I would think that after surviving combat you would have a better perspective. You're the one who brought up the sentimentality not I.

TSA will not be able to replace the lighter. I do urge you to submit a complaint so that those screeners follow correct procedure by advising passengers when accepting their checked luggage. Not calling you a liar, but these signs are pretty standard across the country. Is it possible that you didn't notice them?

Thank you for your service to the nation and welcome home.

RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!

Such 'advice' is contained in the Contract of Carriage of every airline. The fact that not 1 in 100 passengers ever bothers to apprise themselves of the CofC is no excuse. Just watch any episode of Airline :D

Where may one find the Contract of Carriage? I have been bored and looked for the CofC on several websites, but have not found one.

I didn't know until this week (while reading these 2 threads about lighters) that lighters and matches were not permitted in checked luggage. I fly almost weekly and it's never been brought to my attention. Maybe the airlines and the TSA should be doing a better job of informing the flying public?

I know that Delta's website has it -- just type it in the search box.

AA's C of C is pretty easy to find on aa.com:

http://www.aa.com/content/customerSe...Carriage.jhtml

There is a link to AA's CoC posted here and I looked at that one. Where does it say lighters and matches are prohibited? I just scrolled quickly through the baggage section and didn't see anything about it. There is a sentence that refers to an AA Ticket Office for more information, but I don't call that "contained in the CoC".

You're right that it does not appear to be specified in the CofC page per se, but it is on a different page on the website.
But like I said who bothers to look this stuff up before flying ? Some (most ?) airports have signs by the checkin and/or security checkpoint indicating prohibited items, but as our TSA contributors rightly observe, passengers don't read signs either :o

TSA Directive
 

Straight from IATA:

We have been advised by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
International Operations Department that under recent legislation passed by the US Congress and signed into law by the President, TSA is required to implement a ban on the carriage of butane lighters by passengers on any flight
originating in, destined to or operating within the United States by 15
February, 2004. We have asked the TSA to provide a copy of the legislation and implementing regulations/measures which we will provide as soon as it is
received.

TSA has emphasized that since this measure is mandated by legislation it has no choice but to implement by the 15 February - there is no possibility to reverse or change this requirement. TSA has also indicated that they are considering extending the ban to all lighters (regardless of the type of fuel) and possibly matches as well to be consistent based on the nature of the threat they believe exists.

We are providing this preliminary information to provide as much advance notice as possible of this requirement, however we cannot guarantee the completeness of this information until we receive the official documentation from TSA. TSA has asked for IATA's assistance to facilitate implementation of this measure, especially outside the United States and IATA has agreed to provide TSA with input and our views on the issue as quickly as possible. While we raise some financial issues for this email, we will not be emphasizing these in our discussions with TSA, rather we will stick to technical and customer services issues and concerns.

At this time via internal discussions and ad hoc discussions with Member air
carriers we have identified several issues to raise to TSA, including:

1) Air carriers in many cases are not responsible for passenger/baggage preboard screening. Confiscation of such items at check in in many cases is not possible due to lack of storage facilities for such items which are considered dangerous goods (hazardous materials) when present in sufficient quantities. Also air carriers may be liable for the costs of disposal.

2) TSA must co-ordinate implementation with appropriate State authorities to
ensure smooth implementation with the screening authorities in each affected
State.

3) The ban as mandated by Congress only includes lighters fuelled by butane. It is not practical that security screeners will be able to readily differentiate
between butane and other liquid fuelled lighters. Also matches are not included
in the ban. This inconsistency will undermine passenger confidence.

4) In many cases this ban, for operational and customer service reasons, will
need to be extended to all flights as it will be impractical to implement separate measures for US bound flights.

5) Duty free stores and other retail outlets located within sterile areas at
many airports as well as some air carrier duty free sales of butane and
possibly other lighters will have to be stopped. Airports and air carriers may
have substantial inventories of such items resulting in financial penalty.

6) Customer service issues will arise as it is impractical to think that all
passengers will be fully aware of the ban prior to arrival at the airport.
While confiscation of cheaper plastic lighters may not cause a problem, should
a traveller be in possession of a more expensive lighter they will be very
reluctant to give up such an item. Movement by cargo or mail is either
restricted to some extent or prohibited.

7) Knowing about the ban, passengers may be tempted to place such lighters into their checked baggage where they will pose a major safety hazard. There are a number of recorded incidents of lighters in passenger baggage and cargo
shipments initiating fires which fortunately to this point have not caused
known injuries or fatalities.

I certainly hope that the the IATA sends a copy of that statement to every voter in Oregon and North Dakota.

All,

Thank you for the links. Next time that I have insomnia, I will read these pages. One problem that I have with this whole issue of prohibited items is the arbitrary nature of the regulation(s) allowing TSA to designate certain items as prohibited. One example is the prohibition on all lighters, but allowing 2 books of matches. The legislation did not ban all lighters, but I guess it is simpler for TSA to unilaterally ban all so that screeners do not have to differentiate between allowed and prohibited items.

Well, I wouldn't call it a "major" safety hazard, but it is worth noting that the small increase in risk associated with the inevitable increase in checked lighters will exceed the current zero risk associated with allowing lighters in the passenger cabin.