DENVER — Travelers don’t need 9NEWS to tell them the airport is busy this holiday week. They might need a reminder not to inadvertently donate to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as they go through security. As people race to their destinations, they leave a lot behind.
People traveling through DIA and other Colorado airports left behind $18,502 worth of loose change at TSA checkpoints last year. Around the country, the number is usually close to a million dollars every year.
"Those were mostly nickels, dimes and pennies in most cases, but that adds up," Lorie Dankers with TSA said. "People leave stuff in the bins all the time because they put loose items in the bin."
They left $18,502 last year and more than $21,000 in 2019. Around the country, it added up to more than $800,000 left behind in 2022. In 2018, it was nearly a million dollars.
"That is a lot of money, and those people are donating that money to the TSA. We use that money for aviation security," said Dankers.
In Fiscal Year 2022, TSA used nearly a million dollars to buy new wireless and telecommunications equipment for officers working at checkpoints. Each year, the agency determines how to spend the money based on what they need to buy.
While Denver is the sixth busiest airport in the world when it comes to planes and passengers, it’s only the 11th busiest for TSA screening in the country. That’s because a lot of people come through DIA on connections but don’t go through security checkpoints. That’s why the cash found in Denver is lower than many other airports across the country.
"It’s a lot of money that was built up over little bits of change at any given time," said Dankers.
TSA officers try to get the money back to people who forget it if they can determine whose it is. Most of the time, that is difficult to do.
Below is a list of unclaimed money amounts found by TSA in Colorado and nationwide.
Colorado:
FY 2018 - $19,706.00
FY 2019 - $21,501.47
FY 2020 - $12,412.53
FY 2021 - $17,897.31
FY 2022 - $18,290.39
FY 2023 - $18,502.76
Nationwide:
FY 2018 - $960,105.49
FY 2019 - $926,030.44
FY 2020 - $517,978.74
FY 2021 - $653,687.64
FY 2022 - $830,850.71
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