All that loose change discarded by travelers passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at airports added up to a substantial windfall for the TSA coffers last year.
In the TSA’s 2014 fiscal year report released yesterday it said quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies left behind amounted to nearly $675,000.
This is a small increase on the $638,143 recovered the previous year but a hefty 76% jump on the $383,414 collected in 2008.
TSA "makes every effort to reunite passengers with items left at the checkpoint, however there are instances where loose change or other items are left behind and unclaimed," it said in a statement.
"Unclaimed money, typically consisting of loose coins passengers remove from their pockets, is documented and turned over to the TSA financial office," the agency said.
Congress gives TSA discretion to use the unclaimed money toward beefing up security operations at airports and TSA plans to use the money it collected in 2014 toward expanding the TSA Pre-Check program.
Passengers at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport were the nation’s most forgetful, leaving behind $42,550 on screening tables, followed by Los Angeles with $41,506.64 left in spare change.
