Shortly after the advent of the body scanners, the TSA was calling DEA and/or police whenever someone came through with cash. They were told to stop that, and have pretty much complied.cb1000rider wrote:Likely more laws are needed... Apparently the DEA was paying TSA agents to "tip" them to cash coming through luggage:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dea ... 5553c266ea
Someone has to help pay for the War on Drugs.
I travel with cash as part of a business I am involved in. Usually in the range of $25,000 to $50,000 or so. I have been harassed twice at the security checkpoints. The first time, a supervisor quickly corrected the agent, and I was on my way.
The second time was more humorous. I had gone through the regular metal detector, and had a pouch with a little over $25,000 in my pocket. Alarm didn't go off, but the agent asked me what was in my pocket. I responded "just cash", as I pulled out the pouch. He asked to see it, so I unzipped the pouch and thumbed through the bills so he could see there were no explosives. He then asked me how much money I was planning to "declare". Two issues there. First, you don't declare currency to the TSA, and second you don't declare money for a domestic flight. Thinking he was just confused (it was terminal C at IAH and you can get to international departure gates from that terminal), I told him that I was flying domestic. He repeated the same question. I told him that I wasn't planning to declare anything since I am flying domestic. He decided to just droop it at that point. I was kind of hoping he would call his supervisor over.
Traffic stops are much more dangerous than air travel nowadays. Especially if you have out of state plates.