Airport confiscating fewer banned items

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.

Permitted items

Source: Federal Aviation Administration

More than 200 pounds of scissors, corkscrews, silverware and other objects banned from terminals are collected every month at McCarran International Airport and dumped at the Apex landfill about 20 miles north of Las Vegas.

"It's a whole lot of scissors for the most part," McCarran spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said. "There's also a lot of hygiene items, like nail files, that I wouldn't think anyone would want."

The volume of banned items being confiscated has decreased more than fourfold since the new rules were put into place after terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Grey said. Airport officials say they went from 900 pounds of confiscated items per month to 200 pounds.

"I think people are becoming more aware of what they can and cannot bring with them in their carry-on baggage," Grey said. "Another factor is that the FAA has eased the restrictions, allowing things like disposable razors, blunt- tipped scissors and nail clippers."

Travelers who don't want to lose a prized possession are given the choice not to fly, or they can take the banned item back to ticketing and have it placed with their checked luggage if time permits.

"If someone has a gold-plated pocket knife, then the screeners and the airlines try to accommodate them by letting the passenger go to the front of the ticketing line to get the item checked," Grey said. "I've also heard that people have mailed themselves their knives and other items.

"The best advice is not to bring anything on the prohibited item list, or to pack it with checked baggage.

Officials for the airport and Argenbright, the firm that provides checkpoint screening for the airlines at McCarran, have discussed trying to find some way to donate any useful items to charity, airport spokeswoman Debbie Millet said.

"We've talked about it, but there isn't a way that we can effectively sanitize the items, so it's all destroyed," Millet said.

Once Argenbright screeners take an item, it's put in the airport's trash compactor, and the resulting garbage is hauled away by Republic Services trucks and taken to the landfill.

Argenbright spokesman Brian Lott said that what happens to the contraband items at McCarran is similar to what happens at other airports where Argenbright runs checkpoints.