Packing for the game? TSA blogger Bob Burns lists some popular game-day items that won’t fly. Those include air horns (compressed air) and propane tanks (compressed gas), which are prohibited from both carry-on and checked baggage. Gas heaters and stoves (popular tailgating accessories) are permitted, but they may be turned away if they smell of gas.

For travelers determined to bring their own refreshments to the game in a concealment flask, Burns notes: “We’ve seen them all. Binocular flasks, beer bellies, cell phone flasks … You may be able to sneak these into concerts and sporting events, but we’ll find them at the airport.”

His advice? Pack your libations in your luggage or stock up once you arrive in Indianapolis. Although he does point out that travelers are permitted to put bottles of liquid 3.4 oz or less in those carry-on zippered baggies.

TSA will use generic-image, millimeter wave scanners at Indianapolis International Airport, and the agency will work with law enforcement at the Super Bowl. Contrary to rumors, Burns said the TSA will not be employing body scanners at the stadium.

Planning your game day outfit? Burns suggests that anyone wearing a loose-fitting sports jersey as outerwear may be asked to remove it at a security checkpoint. He adds that New England Patriot fans should be ready to remove their tri-cornered hats (Cheeseheads, he said, get the same treatment) and that New York Giants fans should be prepared to duck when going through the airport metal detectors and scanners.

Cue the rim shot….

If you’ve got some extra time to spend at the IND airport, keep in mind that many shops will be offering special Super Bowl souvenirs (including championship items rushed to the airport when the game is over).  There’s also a pop-up, hotel-style lobby from Courtyard Marriott on Concourse A, just past the security checkpoint, and a full day of entertainment on tap Monday in the airport’s pre-security Civic Plaza lobby.

Check here for the latest information about extended hours and offerings at IND airport.

IND Airport pop-up lobby, courtesy Courtyard Marriott

Hate hidden travel fees? Then pay attention when collecting your belongings at the airport security checkpoint.

In fiscal year 2010, travelers left $376,480.39 in loose change in the bottoms of plastic bins at the checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration. In 2009, the abandoned coins totaled more than $399,000.

“Passengers say their six pennies don’t matter,” said TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez. “But it adds up.”

Melenendez said all the unclaimed pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters are turned over to the TSA finance office. After being documented and counted, the money ends up in the coffers of the TSA, which is authorized by law to spend that money as it sees fit.

But Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) wants to change what happens to that big chunk of change.

Miller has introduced legislation that would direct the TSA to transfer unclaimed money recovered at airport security checkpoints to the United Service Organizations (USO), a private nonprofit that operates centers for the military at 41 U.S. airports.

Miller first introduced the bill in 2009, but it didn’t get much traction. Now that he’s the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, he’s trying to move the bill forward again.

“The money left behind at the airport checkpoints belongs to taxpayers,” said Miller spokesperson Dan McFaul. “The congressman feels giving it to the USO to help with onsite airport service for active members of the military would be a good use for it.”

McFaul said the bill is currently being considered by two committees – Homeland Security and Transportation – and that “the immediate focus is to get a hearing and get support.”

The USO, which did not initiate the campaign to redirect unclaimed checkpoint change, is nonetheless honored by Miller’s idea.

“Absolutely,” said Frank Thorp, USO’s senior vice president for marketing and communications. “Any dollar amount we get from the American people goes toward the troops and families who need us most. Our centers provide a warm and comforting place where troops can connect with family via Internet or telephone, play a video game, catch a movie, have a snack or just put their feet up and relax.”

As a federal agency, the TSA has no official position on the pending legislation, but Melendez says: “If people don’t want the TSA to get that money, they can do what I do. If I have spare change in my pocket, I put it in my briefcase so I don’t leave it behind.”

This story originally appeared on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin.

Here are his picks for 10 ‘catches’ that were dangerous, looked dangerous, caused major delays or were “just plain weird.”

Snakes, turtles, and birds were found at Miami (MIA) and Los Angeles (LAX).

A science project shut down a checkpoint at Omaha (OMA).

A concealed non-metallic martial arts weapon known as a “Tactical Spike” was found in the sock of a passenger at Pensacola (PNS) after being screened by a body scanner.

Inert landmines were found at Salt Lake City (SLC).

A stun gun disguised as a smart phone was found at Los Angeles (LAX).

A flare gun with seven flares was found in a passenger’s carry-on bag at Norfolk (ORF).

Two throwing knives concealed in hollowed out book were found at Washington National (DCA).

Over 1,200 firearms were discovered at TSA checkpoints across the nation, many loaded with rounds in the chamber that most passengers said they “forgot” they had a gun in their bag.

A loaded .380 pistol was found strapped to passenger’s ankle with the body scanner at Detroit (DTW).

Small chunks of C4 explosives were found in passenger’s checked luggage in Yuma (YUM).

Blogger Bob also listed some honorable mentions, including Invisible Space Aliens detected at checkpoints, five inert grenades found in passenger’s bag at Newark (EWR) and 240 live fish found swimming in 4 checked bags at Los Angeles (LAX).

That’s quite a list…. Let’s hope the things the TSA picks up this year are not truly dangerous but just “plain weird.”

Each Friday on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin, I track down the answer to a reader’s question. This week’s question was: What happens to all that stuff ‘surrendered’ at airport security checkpoints?

Betty Spencer doesn’t travel much, but she’s curious about what happens to items confiscated or surrendered at airport security checkpoints. “There are so many stories of people having to give up items,” Spencer, a patient accounts counselor in Spokane, Wash., wrote to Overhead Bin. “I wondered if any of the items could be donated or recycled. I would hate to think of so much waste.”

The Transportation Security Administration does indeed end up with a lot of stuff: Since 9/11, the TSA has detected approximately 50 million prohibited items, including 4,600 firearms, during airport checkpoint screening.

Hazardous materials are disposed of, and dangerous or illegal items such as guns and explosives are turned over to law enforcement. But travelers do have some say in what happens to other items.

“TSA offers passengers multiple options at the checkpoint for prohibited items that are less dangerous and not illegal,” said TSA spokesperson Greg Soule. “Passengers can return them to their cars, pack them in checked baggage, or at some airports, mail them home to themselves.”

More often than not, travelers end up surrendering their items at the checkpoint. After that, Soule says, the items end up being donated to state governments “to be auctioned off or sold as revenue. TSA in no way profits from surrendered or lost items at the checkpoint.”

Some states, such as Pennsylvania, operate a brisk and profitable business selling items left behind at airports in the state – and beyond.

“Not all states have a program that’s large enough to accept all the items left at airports,” said Troy Thompson, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. “But we do. And we receive pallets of items from New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports and from some airports in Ohio and Maryland.”

Thompson said all the items Pennsylvania gathers end up at a warehouse, where it’s sorted.

“We get a lot of pocketknives, scissors and corkscrews,” said Thompson, “but also frying pans and other cookware, and tools such as drills, saws, hatchets and machetes. Some of it makes you scratch your head and wonder how people thought they’d get those things on the plane.”

A sampling of the items are put out in a store at the state warehouse in Harrisburg, but most of the items get sold in lots, by weight, online at auction. Since 2004, Pennsylvania has earned about $700,000 from auctions held for many years on eBay and, soon, on govdeals.com.

Update: The Transportation Security Administration employee who added the personal note (above) to the inspection paperwork placed in a traveler’s checked bag will be fired, the agency said on its blog.

“TSA has completed its investigation of this matter, and has initiated action to remove the individual from federal service,” the agency said.

After traveling with a small vibrator in her checked luggage, New York-based blogger and lawyer Jill Filipovic discovered that someone had scrawled “Get your freak on girl,” across the TSA paperwork left in her bag.

Under the title “Your tax dollars at work,” Filipovic posted the note on the Feministe blog and added her own comment, “Total violation of privacy, wildly inappropriate and clearly not ok, but I also just died laughing in my hotel room.”

She also Tweeted a photo of the note, adding: “Just unpacked my suitcase and found this note from TSA. Guess they discovered a ‘personal item’ in my bag. Wow.”

The TSA inspection card is printed in Spanish on one side and English on the other.

“The note was inappropriate,” said Filipovic, “the agent in question acted unprofessionally when s/he put in my bag, there should be consequences and I’m glad the TSA takes these things seriously. But I get no satisfaction in hearing that someone may be in danger of losing their job over this. I would much prefer a look at why ‘security’ has been used to justify so many intrusions on our civil liberties, rather than fire a person who made a mistake.”

(The original version of this story appeared on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin)

Photo courtesy TSA

Each Friday on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin, I track down an answer to a reader’s question. This week the topic was: guns, knives and grenades at the airport checkpoint.

Throwing knives found in a carry-on at BWI

Should you pack your gun, your grenade or your carving knife in a carry-on bag when you go to the airport?

Definitely not, but apparently a number of people do.

According to a recent post on the Transportation Security Administration’s blog, TSA officers have found more than 800 firearms in carry-on bags this year.

And that number doesn’t include the countless knives that still show up at airport security checkpoints daily — it’s so many that the TSA doesn’t even keep count — or the many inert grenades that passengers try to take home as souvenirs.

Last week, for example, a passenger at the Orlando International Airport showed up with three pistols — a .25-caliber, a .40-caliber semiautomatic and a .357-caliber revolver — in a bag that also contained loose ammunition and a loaded magazine. In Baltimore, the TSA recently found three throwing knives in the carry-on bag of a Mexico-bound traveler. And on Monday, TSA officers at New York’s Albany International Airport discovered a loaded gun in the purse of a woman heading to Detroit.

The two passengers with guns were arrested; the traveler with the knives was cited, and his weapons were confiscated.

It’s unlikely that passengers plan to use their weapons during flight, but it’s difficult to know for sure since people often respond to TSA questioning by saying, “I forgot that it was in my bag.”

Given how frequently illicit weapons are discovered, Overhead Bin asked TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein for advice on the proper way to fly with firearms.

Farbstein said fliers may transport  firearms, ammunition and firearm parts in their checked baggage even though those items are prohibited from carry-on baggage.

“Basically, travelers must declare all firearms, ammunition, and parts to the airline during the ticket counter check-in process,” Farbstein said. “The firearm must be unloaded and it must be in a hard-sided container [and] the container must be locked.”

You can read more about traveling on airplanes with guns, firearms, knives and other weapons on the TSA’s website, but Farbstein adds that “airlines may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition. Therefore, travelers should also contact the airline regarding firearm and ammunition carriage policies.”

Or maybe, just plan to leave your weapons at home.

Each week on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin blog I get to answer a reader’s question. This week’s topic: snow globes on airplanes.

During a recent trip to Disneyland, Camille Kohler’s 5-year-old daughter searched for the one souvenir she would buy and bring home with her to Anchorage, Alaska. After three days of consideration, she decided on a small snow globe from the popular It’s a Small World ride.

For the flight home, Kohler put the snow globe in her carry-on bag. But the water-filled souvenir never made it past the security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport.

“To their credit, the TSA agents were trying to keep the confiscation on the down-low so my daughter wouldn’t see they were taking the snow globe,” said Kohler. “They even looked for a way to empty it. But at that point in the day, I didn’t even want to bring it to my girl’s attention, causing a potential melt-down at the security gates.”

Now Kohler wants to know: “Does the TSA have a rule specifically prohibiting snow globes?”

The answer is yes.

“Snow globes of any size are not permitted in carry-on baggage because there is no way for our officers to accurately determine the volume of liquid,” said Transportation Security Administration spokesperson Greg Soule.

If you do want to travel with a souvenir snow globe that, like Kohler’s daughter, you have carefully picked out, the TSA recommends that you put it in your checked luggage or ship it home. Another option is to shop for a souvenir snow globe at a post-security shop in the airport.

Wondering if your vacation souvenir will make it through the security checkpoint? The TSA has a tool on its website to help travelers like Kohler figure out what will and won’t fly. Overhead Bin plugged in “snow globes” and was sent to a “Check only” page that discusses liquids but does not specifically mention snow globes. A holiday-related section of the TSA website, however, does specifically state that snow globes are not permitted in carry-on bags.

And don’t worry too much about that lost It’s a Small World souvenir. Like all Disney movies, this tale has a storybook ending: “I’m happy to report that I was able to find a replacement snow globe on the Disney web site,” said Kohler.

Earlier this week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that children under 13 years old soon will no longer have to remove their shoes at airport security checkpoints.

That’s great news for families, of course, but also for any traveler who has had to wait in line behind a 3-year-old balking at being parted from his Spider-Man sneakers.

I asked Transportation Security Administration spokesperson Lisa Farbstein to explain what families, children and general travelers need to know about the new kid-friendly checkpoint procedures.

Q: What will be different?

A: The modification is that we will allow kids 12 and under to leave their shoes on. We will also permit multiple passes through the metal detector and advanced imaging technology by children to clear any alarms as well as [employ] the greater use of explosives trace detection. The idea is that these changes in protocol will ultimately reduce — though not eliminate — pat-downs of children that would have otherwise been conducted to resolve alarms.

Q: Will there be exceptions?

A: Yes. Children may be required to remove their shoes, and could still undergo a pat-down, if anomalies are detected during security screening that cannot be resolved through other means. These changes will allow officers to better focus their efforts on passengers who are more likely to pose a risk to transportation while expediting the screening process.

Q: When will it start?

A: The changed procedures are already in effect at many airports, with full implementation expected by Sept. 26.

Q: Weren’t some airport already doing this?

A: In August, we tested the new procedures in a pilot at six airports: Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Houston (IAH) and Denver. Those pilot sites were selected based on airports that had a higher volume of travelers in the desired age range to allow for a better overall sample during our testing.

Q: What tweaks were done in response to the testing?

A: For security purposes, we can’t get into that. But here’s an interesting factoid: Children in the 12-and-under age range represent about 3 percent of all passengers, although during peak travel seasons at certain airports, children may make up about 8 percent of the passengers.

(Photo courtesy TSA)

If Dorothy’s ruby red slippers and a green Kermit the Frog puppet can be part of the collection at the Smithsonian Institution, why not one of the gray bins from the modern-day airport security checkpoint.

That’s exactly what’s happened.

According to a guest blog post by Transportation Security Administration historian Michael P. C. Smith on the National Museum of American History website, the TSA recently donated several artifacts to the museum’s National September 11 Collection, including some original TSA uniforms, a firearm carried by a Federal Air Marshal and various pieces of aviation security technology, such as a gray security bin and a “put your feet here” mat.

Here’s a link to website for the Smithsonian’s Remembrance and Reflection page, which has details about the museum’s current exhibition of 9/11 items and pictures of many of the items in its September 11 collection.

What’s up with airport pat-downs?

News stories about airport security checks involving small children undergoing full pat downs, an elderly woman’s adult diaper being inspected and, most recently, some women of color having their natural hairdos scrutinized may have you wondering what you’ll encounter at the airport as you head back to school or work after summer vacation.

At most airports, it will be business as what has become usual: shoes off; laptops, liquids and IDs out; pockets emptied; a walk through a metal detector or scanner; and, if something’s amiss, arms stretched wide for an enhanced pat down.

While the modern-day pat down might make both the passenger and the Transportation Security Administration officer conducting the procedure uncomfortable, “At the end of the day, the comfort I am concerned with is the comfort of knowing I can turn on the evening news and find that no aircraft was compromised or went down because I did my job effectively,” said Valyria Lewis, a TSA officer at Memphis International Airport who is president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 555, covering Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

But the airport checkpoint experience is ever-evolving. Now a new set of changes is making its way through the system.

The TSA is testing programs at a few airports, installing new technology at few dozen airports and implementing new policies systemwide that might streamline the experience for some travelers and make it more or less of a hassle for others. Here is some of what’s in store:

Getting to know you

It’s still a bit surprising, but usually refreshing, when a TSA officer checking IDs breaks the “Just show me your papers” demeanor to ask a question about your day or to share a tidbit from theirs. The seconds-long pleasantry may be just that, but engaging you and drawing you out may also be part of what the TSA calls its “ongoing risk-based, multilayered security strategy.”

Right now, as part of that strategy, the TSA is testing an expanded behavior-detection pilot program at Boston’s Logan International Airport. If your Boston-originating flight takes you through the security checkpoint at Terminal A, you’ll be part of the test automatically. In what the TSA calls “casual greeting conversations” and others have dubbed “chat downs,” specially trained behavior-detection officers are asking each passenger a few extra questions as they go through the ID check.

They’re not all that interested in your answers, but in your behavior.

The TSA says some passengers may get selected for a longer, but “still limited” chat and that the results of this test will determine if the program spreads to other airports.

Kid-friendly checkpoints

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says a pilot program to test new screening procedures for children 12 and younger is under way at six airports: Boston; Atlanta; Miami; Orlando, Fla.; Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport; and Denver.

Why those airports? “The pilot sites were selected based on airports that had a higher volume of travelers in the desired age range to allow for a better overall sample during testing,” Farbstein said.

What will change?

Until now, children or adults who triggered an alarm at a screening machine were subject to a pat down. Under the new kid-friendlier screening procedure, children will be allowed to go back through the metal detector or the advanced imaging technology machine for “do-overs” to clear an alarm. Also, kids will be allowed to leave their shoes on.

The TSA still can require kids to remove their shoes or undergo a pat down if something seems amiss, but if the test works out, the program will spread to other airports.

Modest scanners

In a move to return modesty to passengers, the TSA is installing new, less-invasive software on the millimeter wave Advanced Imaging Technology machines — the so-called “naked scanners” — at 40 airports.

Instead of creating revealing, passenger-specific images, the machines will now produce a generic outline of a person while still showing if any items are concealed under clothing. If something shows up on the scanner, passengers would undergo an extra pat down on the specific area in question, for example, their wrist.

TSA officials say that upgraded software is already in place in Las Vegas; Atlanta; Baltimore; Tampa, Fla.; and many other airports. There are 241 machines with this software being installed throughout the U.S.; all are expected to be in place by fall.

Trusted traveler program

The TSA is scheduled to roll out yet one more test program this fall. This one is an identity-based, preflight screening program that may lead to a widespread “trusted traveler” program that could expedite the checkpoint experience for those willing to share some additional information about themselves with the government.

Participants in the first phase of the test will include several airports and a select group of passengers.

The pool of participants will include some travelers who already are part of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Trusted Traveler programs such as Global Entry, Sentri and Nexus. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airports, the test will include some members of Delta Air Lines’ frequent-flier program. At Miami International and Dallas/Fort Worth International airports, the test will include some frequent fliers from American Airlines.

If the program works out, the TSA plans to include other airports and other airlines, including United, Southwest, JetBlue, US Airways, Alaska and Hawaiian.

Will this make a difference?

You might or might not experience one of the new programs in your next trip to the airport, but the bottom line for the TSA remains catching “bad guys” and finding objects or materials that might be used to take down a plane.

So, security-wise, will these new programs make a difference?

“It can be hard to tell,” said Jeff Price, an aviation security expert and associate professor at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. “The TSA doesn’t release statistics on what it catches. But the [Government Accountability Office] will likely do a report at some point, and the public portion of that should give us a pretty good idea.”