Happens Everywhere!
Monday, June 10, 2002
Searching for the 'stuff' confiscated by airport security
By Thomas C. Palmer, Jr.,
The Boston (MA) Globe
Call it a guest appearance today, or a return to the scene of the crime.
But, while our able colleague is away - probably undercover as a
Turnpike toll taker or an MBTA Green Line inspector - we thought this
true story needed to be told.
When we went through a Northwest Airlines security point at Logan
Airport one recent Saturday afternoon, it was our own fault that a
favored little red penknife went bye-bye. Like thousands of other
travelers, we'd forgotten something in a pocket.
The security folks never even mentioned it; it just didn't come back in
the plastic box with our pennies and nickels.
We inquired about options, but the only one was taking a carry-on bag
back down to check-in, waiting in line, and checking a second piece of
luggage with the penknife secure inside.
There wasn't time, so, lesson learned, we thought the next best thing
would be to find out: What happens to all this stuff?
''It's confiscated,'' security told us. But what does that mean?
Our investigative journey began with a call to Jose Juves, spokesman at
the Massachusetts Port Authority.
''The security checkpoints are now operated by the TSA [Transportation
Security Administration] and not the airlines,'' he said via e-mail.
''Having said that, the TSA is still using security companies and
airline personnel at those checkpoints.''
Call the TSA, he said.
Easier said than done. The TSA has no phone listing in Boston. No phone
listing in Washington, D.C. And no one at the Department of
Transportation, where it has been housed since its post-Sept. 11
creation, knew the number.
So we called the Federal Aviation Administration, which had the number.
Our little heart sank when we heard it was an 866 number (like 800s,
long holding times, boring recordings), but to our surprise Heidi
answered.
Heidi said she'd check on it and call us back.
And she did.
''Once it's confiscated by the screeners, it's usually destroyed,'' she
said. ''The only other option is to call the airline and see if it's
still there, see if they're willing to give it back to you.''
She even apologized for not being able to help more.
We still didn't know: Who disposes of these things, when, where, and
how?
We called Northwest, where an ominous recording said, ''Your call will
probably be returned.''
Northwest would only give us the Lost and Found number, and the woman
there couldn't get off the phone fast enough.
Someone at the ticket counter said, ''We don't hold anything. Used to
hold them. They're turned over to the local police.''
A whole new bureaucracy to call!
Juves assured us that the State Police don't get involved with
penknives, so we pressed Northwest again.
And finally we were given a number at Globe Security, the company that
handles Northwest checkpoints. No one ever answered there.
Globe, however, has a nice site on the World Wide Web.
So we wrote a polite e-mail asking simply: Whatever happened to our
penknife?
That was about a week ago.