Losing your phone at the airport can be a nightmare—and it happens more often than you think.
Travel expert Tiffany is sounding the alarm on a common mistake that could cost you your most precious device.
“The thing I’m absolutely never doing when I’m going through TSA — I am not putting my phone directly into one of the containers,” said Tiffany, a seasoned traveler from Pittsburgh. “It’s always going in a zipped pocket in my bag.”
She’s not being paranoid—she’s being smart. Tiffany shared with her 297,000 TikTok followers that she once placed her phone in a TSA bin, only to be immediately warned by an agent.
“The TSA agent looked at me and was like, ‘You don’t like your phone?’ And I looked at him like he was a little crazy and I said, ‘Yes,’” she recalled. “He said, ‘This is the fastest way to get it stolen.’”
Phones are the number one item stolen at airport security checkpoints, according to Tiffany. “It’s because they are left out and available — the lines can back up, you’re not paying attention until you realize and it’s too late.”
It’s a useful forewarning for frequent flyers.
An Air France flight from Paris to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, was recently forced to make a U-turn after a passenger lost their phone.
There are a lucky few who do retrieve their lost or stolen electronics from TSA.
In fact, the authorities claim that close to 100,000 lost items are recovered each year, per the TSA website.
“Passengers are encouraged to place their contact information on the outside of their electronics, such as laptops, in case the item is left behind. TSA will make every effort to reunite passengers with their belongings,” the officials say.
“Unclaimed electronics will have its memory removed and destroyed (e.g. laptop hard drive) or be destroyed completely (e.g. items with non-removable memory) to protect personal data after the 30-day holding period,” the noted.
And who wants all that drama?
@travel.by.the.books Something I NEVER do when traveling. Travel tips on Tuesday SAFETY TIP!!! 📱🎒✔️ #traveltips #travelsafety #tsa #traveltipsandtricks #solotravel #familytravel #traveltiptuesday #travelbythebooks #creatorsearchinsights ♬ original sound – Travel.by.the.Books
Hoping to help folks avoid the chaos, Tiffany doubled down on her word-to-the-wise.
“Always make sure your valuables are zipped up [inside] your bag when they go through the scanners,” she urged.
Source: nypost.com