Here’s another reason to hope that the social media trend of posting photos of artfully arranged airport security trays remains back in 2024 where it belongs. Turns out that using those bins as a canvas for self-expression was stomach-churningly disgusting.
Seems like there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.
In a recent TikTok video, uniformed Transportation Security Administration agent Jauan Kenney (@patchouli_julio) reports that he has just scraped poo out of a TSA bin.
“These trays are dirty,” he says. “You may not see it ’cause I cleaned it, but there was [poo] in a tray.” (Fair warning: He uses a different word in the clip.)
It makes sense when you think about it. Flyers who don’t have TSA PreCheck are required to remove their shoes and put them in a bin to pass through airport security screeners. If you’ve recently stepped in something gross, whatever’s on the bottom of your shoe will likely transfer to the bin.
Then, of course, there are all the germs that accumulate on the trays because they’re being touched by multitudes of people passing through TSA checkpoints every day.
A few years ago, a scientific study conducted in Europe found that airport security bins tested positive for more germs than airport toilets, including for germs that cause influenza and the common cold.
And in 2022, a local news investigation conducted at Cleveland’s Hopkins International Airport found the harmful bacteria E. coli present on a majority of the TSA bins tested.
TSA workers are supposed to disinfect security bins routinely, a government spokesperson told reporters, but “several current and former TSA workers from various cities … confirmed … that the bins are rarely cleaned.”
Blech.
To help guard against pathogens, Kenney recommends putting what you can in your carry-on as you pass through the checkpoint, although you will have to remove some stuff, such as laptops.
Try to find a pocket in your carry-on where you can stash your phone, your baby’s pacifier, or anything else that will later come into contact with somebody’s face. It’s safer than placing those items directly in that filthy, filthy poo bin.
It’s probably a good idea as well to wash your hands thoroughly once you get past the TSA checkpoint. Clean anything that touched the tray, too.