TSA found $674K in loose change in 2014

Airline passengers left more than $674,000 behind at airport security checkpoints in 2014, according to figures released Monday by the Transportation Security Administration. 

TSA officials said its agents found $674,841.06 in spare change unclaimed by passengers last year. The figure is a $36,000 increase from the amount left behind in 2013, and a $253,000 jump over 2008 figures. 

If no one comes back to claim money left at a checkpoint, it stays with the TSA.

{mosads}TSA officials said the agency “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. 

“Unclaimed money, typically consisting of loose coins passengers remove from their pockets, is documented and turned into the TSA financial office,” the agency said in a statement. 

Current law gives the TSA discretion over how money that is left behind at airport security checkpoints is spent. 

“In 2005, Congress gave TSA the authority to expend unclaimed money for security operations,” the agency said. 

Some lawmakers have sought to require the TSA to transfer money that is not claimed by passengers when they leave airport security checkpoints to United Service Organizations, which support military members and their families.