"Florida Airport Returns Confiscated Items"

Sunday, May 23, 2004 

Airport Returns Banned Items
The Hartford (CT) Courant


It may seem like a small thing, but the officials at Daytona Beach
International Airport have instituted a program to forward banned items
found in travelers' carry-on luggage.

For free.

The vast majority of items discovered in carry-on bags have been packed
inadvertently. Sometimes it is a small pocket knife of some personal or
monetary value, other times the odd clippers or scissors. Daytona Beach
officials decided to do a small favor for their visitors by sending the
"contraband" for no fee.

When items are confiscated at most major airports, you usually have to
forfeit them. At some airports, such as Bradley International, you can
pay between $7 and $15 to have the item shipped back to you.

In some airports you have to leave the line to find a Postal Service
mailer and then start over again in the search process.

The Daytona Beach courtesy mail-back program, according to Stephen
Cooke, director of business development for the airport, might be
unaffordable at most large airports. "We want our passengers to have a
good experience," he says. "We are always looking for things our
competition can't match."

Officials say that more than 2,000 items have been returned by mail
since the program began in February 2003. The most courtesy mailbacks
came this past February, when the airport returned 309 items, costing it
$314.63.


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