Traversing airport security can often lead to surprising encounters, particularly regarding the items passengers bring along. Recently, a Reddit user sparked a discussion, urging fellow travellers to recount their most intriguing, amusing, or peculiar tales of items confiscated at airport security checkpoints.
One user recounted their experience of having a pot of honey confiscated, while another shared the unfortunate loss of expensive cheese spreads acquired from Iceland. Despite finding more after security, the cheese met the same fate at their connecting airport in Dallas, resulting in a distraught spouse.
The stories only grew more peculiar from there. A passenger had Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, a classic literary work, held for inspection in 2001, triggering suspicion due to its title. Others lost items ranging from a grenade-shaped cologne named Spicebomb to a bundle of paper labeled “POOP,” mistaken for an animal product posing environmental hazards.
Airport security’s vigilance extended to seemingly harmless items like candles, with one traveller lamenting the loss of their favourite scented candle. Similarly, a passenger bound for New Zealand had their supply of “poop-paper” confiscated as it was deemed a potential threat to the country’s environment.
In another instance, travellers were detained for hours at LA airport over a dry tangerine forgotten in their suitcase, mistaken for imported food. Despite the inconvenience, the stories shared on Reddit shed light on the often-unexpected encounters travellers face when navigating airport security.