Jonathan Allen

Consumers may be watching every penny at the gas pump and at the supermarket these days, but they’re apparently not as vigilant with their change in the airport security line.

The federal Transportation Security Administration collected more than $1 million in unclaimed pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters since fiscal year 2005, but only about $161 of that from Chattanooga.

Travelers often don’t realize they have left change behind, federal Transportation Security Administration spokesman Jonathan Allen said.

“If it’s something like a cell phone or a laptop, someone’s likely to notice almost immediately,” he said. “But the issue with change is that people may not notice. Or if it’s 40 cents or something like that, it may be to the point where they’re already to their gate, and either they don’t want to go back and get it, or it’s not practical to go all the way back to the checkpoint.”

In 2005, Congress allowed the agency to start keeping all the loose change that airline passengers leave in bins at security checkpoints.

In the past, the money collected went into the U.S. Treasury’s general fund, according to Mr. Allen. But the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2005 allowed TSA to keep it for civil aviation security improvements.

So far, all the money has been stored away in an account and no major purchases have been made, he said.

A total of 307,500 passengers departed the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport during the last calendar year, according to airport spokeswoman Christina Siebold.

The most common thing left behind for the lost-and-found, according to Chattanooga TSA officers? Belts.

A total of $161.55 was collected at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, far less than the largest amount collected — $34,577 — at Los Angeles International Airport.

That figure is not surprising, Mr. Allen said, because collections tend to correspond to the size of each airport. Los Angeles has the fifth-busiest airport in the world based on the number of passengers, according to its airport Web site.

“One of the advantages for travelers (in Chattanooga) is that (the) checkpoint there does not have the volume that you would get in Los Angeles or Chicago or Atlanta,” he said. “If you realize that you’ve left something, it certainly would make it easier to turn around and come back and reclaim that item.”

Randall Jude, of Calhoun, Ga., said he has never left change behind in Chattanooga. But if he were to do so, he said, it would be OK with him for the TSA to keep it to defray security costs.

“If there’s no way they can tell whose it is, I guess they might as well put it to good use,” Mr. Jude said.

One place lost money and goods won’t go is into the pockets of TSA employees, Mr. Allen said. Each officer is trained carefully on policy, and sanctions are in place should something be taken. Officers have been fired for taking change — including one who took just 7 cents, he said.

“It’s a big issue for us to ensure some mechanism is in place to handle this,” Mr. Allen said. “This certainly isn’t finder’s keepers.”