INDIANAPOLIS -- With the holidays approaching thousands of people will be heading to the airport to make trips home to visit family.
According to Airlines for America, 27.3 million passengers are expected to travel between November 18 and November 29.
Indianapolis International Airport expects at least 16,000 people to go through their checkpoints on the day before Thanksgiving alone.
So to help speed up the process, they’re reminding passengers about some of the items that you should leave behind before heading for your flight.
ALSO SEE| The TSA Blog
Every day agents confiscate dozens of items at checkpoints.
Some of the most overlooked items passengers try to take in their carry-on bags include oversized liquids, gels, and aerosols like toothpaste or shaving cream and water bottles. Remember, if you’re traveling with liquids, they can’t be more than 3.4 ounces.
At the Indianapolis airport, they’ve also confiscated 43 firearms this year alone.
Some of the more common items you can’t pack in your carry-on bag include:
- Aerosols
- Realistic replicas of explosives or firearms
- Liquid-Gel or Aerosol more than 3.4 ounces
- Firearms, BB Guns or Pellet Guns
- Ammunition
- Certain foods
- Box Cutters
- Knives
- Scissors
- Most sports equipment
- Any tool greater than 7 inches in length
For a full list of what you can and can’t bring through airport checkpoints or pack in your checked luggage, you can visit the TSA Prohibited Items Checklist
If you’re traveling with a present this holiday season, TSA agents suggest you skip the wrapping paper for the flight. Chances are, they’ll have to un-wrap your package to check the item, and that could cost you and everyone around you more time at the checkpoint.
Aaron Batt, Indiana Federal Security Director for TSA said their agents are trying to get the word out early and hopefully prepare passengers to help alleviate your wait at checkpoints.
“Educate the passengers, to check and make sure they know what they’re packing. That it’s not going to delay the process,” said Batt, “Every time we have to open a bag to look at a prohibited item or something that’s concerning it delays the process for everyone else as well.”
Any items confiscated by TSA agents go to the Indiana State Surplus Office to be sold. That money then goes to the state.
