I had a new, expensive Swiss Army Knife confiscated by security in Las Vegas. We had not travelled with it previously, and totally forgot that we had it. They did offer the option of sending it for $8 to 10, but we would have to leave security and then reenter the area. There was a long line, even the elite line, so we were a little concerned that we might miss our flight, as we were told it was a half hour walk to our gate. We left the America West Club 65 minutes before our departure, and our flight was boarding when we arrived at the gate.

If I sent a check for $10 or $15 and a description of my item and when it was confiscated, do you think they might return it to me?

No. The volume of crap they confiscate prohibits what you propose.

Nope. Fortunately never had anything confiscated before.

If you do this, they will have your personal information and essentially a confession of your infraction. You would really leave yourself vulnerable to a fine.

I got my 8 pack of AA alkaline batteries back afetr they were confiscated at no cost to me. If you search, you will find the story. It was posted around early 2003.

You're joking right? You must really think we're all a bunch of *******s? (No need to answer that) If we really wanted to fine somebody for a Swiss Army knife, we'd make an incident report before they left the checkpoint.

Unfortunately, we drop all surrendered items into lock boxes. The key at our airport is held by an Admin guy that we never see. We couldn't give stuff back if we wanted to.

I've never been authorized to hold items for passengers. However, the most I could do is hold an item for a short period of time (a few hours) in order for a friend or family member come to the airport to retrieve it. Small airports can do that more easily than larger ones. By the end of the day, it goes into the bin.

I would imagine Vegas is in the same boat as Denver. In Denver there are 2500 plus items turned over in a week. There is no chance of getting it back. You highly limit your options when you arrive at the airport without time to deal with things that you may not expect to happen.

Passenger options are:

1. Return to the airline to make arrangements to have your item checked in. Some airlines may require you to check in an additional piece of luggage containing the prohibited item but others may simply place the item inside of a box or envelope and check it.

2. Give the item to a non-travelling companion such as a friend or relative who may have dropped you off.

3. Mail the item. Usually, there are private businesses who provide this service. Since they are not the post office, they will charge a fee for this service, usually between $6 and $10 per item.

The common factor in each of these options is that they require the passenger to exit the checkpoint and then re-enter and be re-screened. Most people don't want to put up with the hassle of waiting in line again and undergoing the exact same screening process, so they go with Option 4: surrender the item to TSA and let TSA dispose of the item. The catch here is that once you surrender an item, it is no longer your property. It becomes government property. You cannot get it back.

TSASuper, you're a nice guy holding PI for escorts (people who aren't travelling but are escorting or meeting someone at the gate). I have a couple of supervisors who do that as well. One of them will hold it for no longer than 15 minutes or so while another will even put a note on the item with the name of the person so that it can be returned to the owner when he/she leaves the sterile area, and another supervisor bends over backwards to appease passengers (this gutless wonder also never backs up screeners and sides with passengers on virtually every issue....nobody likes working with this particular supervisor).

All I've got to say to that is that you assume a risk whenever you hold onto an item for someone. If they take too long and you dispose of it, they will accuse you of breaking your promise. Then there are those who will accuse you of breaking their item or claiming that it's not the same item they left you with. I've seen it all in my combined experience as a private contracted screener and TSA screener. Best advice is to stick to the policy and make no exceptions to the options available for passengers with prohibited items. Keeps you out of hot water.

But it's ultimately your decision to make, and you should accept the consequences of those decisions. I'm sure you do. Just a little friendly advice; same advice I give my supervisors.

And how exactly would a passenger know an incident report was written up?

There are many, many stories of people being fined who had no idea they were at risk of getting fined until the notice showed up in the mail.

I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of the travelling public has no idea that one can be fined for packing a cheese slicer in their carryon.

We can't read your minds. In order to write an incident report, we have to have your info. We'll ask for your boarding pass and ID and you'll see us writing your info down.

(The true answer is that our metal detectors you walk through have scanners that read the secret chips that were implanted in your head while you were sleeping. That's how you'll all the sudden mysteriously receive a fine in the mail.)

And I thought it was the little strips they put in the currency that allowed you to track us.

Of course, once the INS places RFID tags in our passports you won't need to ask us, you can just read the chip as we pass through the scanners.

<<placing my tin foil hat back on my head>>

What is the legal basis for this?

Sounds like good customer service to me!

The problem is the American public doesn't question anything, they simply hand over their ID to anyone asking for it. Even for routine credit card transactions, which is not a requirement.

So even if someone hands over the ID, they probably still have no idea what's about to happen. There probably should be some sort of miranda-like process if an incident report is being written up, with a notification that a fine may be levied.

I have personally been asked three (3) times for ID by folks at a checkpoint after screening, and each time I did not provide it. In all three cases, it was in retaliation of my asking for a complaint form to document an SOP violation. In all three cases, when I reminded them I had cleared, complied with all instructions, and was simply questioning their incorrect following of procedure, they backed off.