Fliers leave thousands in change behind at airports
BY LEDYARD KING January 14, 2012 10:48AM
Passengers at O'Hare International Airport prepare to go through security Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, in Chicago. Various levels of elevated security and restrictions at airports and aboard airliners led to confusion Monday about what passengers could or couldn't do during flights in the wake of an attempted Christmas Day terror attack when a Nigerian man attempted to ignite an explosive as the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight prepared to land. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Updated: February 16, 2012 8:15AM
Airline passengers at O’Hare International Airport leave about $15,000 a year in coins they forget to — or choose not to — take with them as they scramble to catch flights, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Another $3,100 is left at Midway, officials say.
Across the nation, loose change amounted to $409,085.56. That’s $376,480.39 in dollar coins, quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies, plus foreign currency worth $32,605.17.
People who leave money behind may be rushing through a checkpoint for a variety of reasons, and travelers heading to foreign countries may simply feel they have no use for U.S. change, said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.
The TSA “makes every effort to reunite passengers with items left at the checkpoint,” agency spokesman Greg Soule said. Money that can’t be returned to its owner is used to finance agency operations.
Republican Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida wants to change that. Legislation he’s proposing would give the money to the United Service Organizations to help operate their welcome centers for U.S. military personnel around the globe.
“Allowing TSA to keep unclaimed taxpayer money for any and all purposes is an egregious breach of its duty to the public that it serves,” Miller wrote in a recent letter to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) “This money should be put to good use, and there is no better organization to use this money wisely than the USO.”
Gannett News Service
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