Beware what you take on flight
Feel like arguing with a Transportation Security Administration official at a security checkpoint?
Don’t do it in Boise.
Boise’s airport ranked highest in the Northwest, and 28th out of hundreds of airports nationally, for the frequency with which its TSA officials fined people for trying to carry on prohibited items.Of the four major airports in the Pacific Northwest, Spokane International Airport had the lowest number of fines issued to passengers at security checkpoints.
According to 2004 data recently released by the TSA, Boise served 1,406,990 originating passengers last year and issued 103 fines, compared with Spokane International, which issued eight fines and saw almost the same number of passengers.
The TSA prohibits 68 carry-on items, ranging from ski poles to meat cleavers, although some of those items are permitted in checked luggage.
But fines aren’t always given when someone tries to carry on a prohibited item. It depends on the type of item and the circumstances of the confiscation, said TSA Northwest regional spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin.
Peppin declined to provide details on specific incidences that produced a fine, citing passenger privacy.
“There is no hard-and-fast or set rule as to the frequency or number of violations that we give out,” she said.
Fines can cost up to $10,000; a passenger’s cooperation with security officials and local regulations factor into the amount, Peppin said. The average fine levied nationally was $210, and only a handful were issued for more than $1,000, she said. Passengers issued a fine are often not notified immediately, but receive a letter in the mail several weeks later, Peppin said. She said fines are determined by the TSA security director after information is evaluated by local regulatory officers. Peppin said some fines are dropped or reduced when challenged through a phone call to a TSA attorney.
Peppin said fine discrepancies between airports are not uncommon because of differences in regional and seasonal activities, such as the popularity of hunting. She said extra efforts have been made in states where hunting is a popular pastime to educate passengers about prohibited items.
Still, Peppin said after fine data was collected for 2004, the TSA re-evaluated the process. The agency has seen a significant drop in the number of fines issued in 2005, she said.
In 2004, $732,000 in fines were collected by the TSA and deposited into the federal government’s general fund, she said.
Out of the 6 million items collected between January and November 2004, 74,685 were firearms, explosives, knives with blades longer than three inches and box cutters.
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