Travelers lost about $900K at airport checkpoints last year

PITTSBURGH – Travellers left behind nearly a million dollars at U.S. airport security checkpoints last year, including about $19,000 in foreign currency, a newspaper reported Friday.

A Transportation Security Administration report said travellers lost $926,000 at 75 airports in the year that ended in September, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Federal regulators say much of the lost money came from people emptying their pockets for security scans.

The paper says the largest sums were lost at airports in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Las Vegas and Dallas. At the newspaper’s hometown Pittsburgh International Airport, travellers parted with $5,000 .

The Transportation Security Administration suggests putting cash into carry-on bags, and reminds travellers who have lost money that they can contact the TSA’s lost-and-found office at the airport.