There is no denying that security screening at airports can be one of the most time-consuming and demanding experiences a traveler can go through. When TSA officials ask you to remove everything from your pockets and place them in the bin it is only a matter of time before someone leaves something important behind. Disregarding all the electronics, clothes, and keys that are usually left behind when going through airport security, U.S. airports around the country totaled up all of their lost change to find a whopping sum of over $926k reported back in 2019; before the pandemic occurred.
Now that airports are obviously less crowded than they were in 2019 it is interesting to notice how much money people still just seem to forget or simply just drop. On behalf of COVID-19 the majority of passengers noticeably decreased in 2020, however, airport officials still managed to come across a ridiculous total of over $517k that was lost by travels in the U.S. The highest amount of change recovered was found in New York City at John F. Kennedy International Airport which tallied up to a sum of over $98k, while the lowest sum of cash was found in Florida at Miami International Airport with a total amount of $47k.
This common habit of misplacing loose change when boarding a flight has been going on for decades. After collecting the money that officials find throughout their airport, TSA puts it all into a “special account earmarked for aviation security projects” to ensure that the money does not get lost for a second time. Required by law, TSA must file an honest report at the end of each year in regards to how much-unclaimed money was found at each major airport within the United States. Even with one of their main goals being to return any unclaimed items back to their original owners, it is interesting to notice how much of it never gets returned, especially the fact that its money that can easily end up in the hands of someone else.