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Travel tips as spring break ramps up

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Updated  March 7, 2025 5:31pm EST
Sarasota
FOX 13 News

SRQ prepares for busy spring break travel

FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon shows you some of the prohibited items that people have tried to bring through airport security.

The Brief

    • Spring break will bring a 10% increase in travelers at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
    • TSA urges people to pack prohibited items in carry-on bags.
    • You can snap a photo of an item and send it to TSA on Facebook Messenger or X and someone will respond letting you know if the item is acceptable.

SARASOTA, Fla. - Spring break will bring a 10% uptick in travelers to the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, according to airport officials.

TSA will be busy making sure prohibited items stay out of all of those carry-on bags. 

"It blows my mind that anyone would try and bring anything like this on a plane. A frying pan, really," said passenger Neil Mork. 

Dig deeper:

A table of surrendered items from people’s carry-on bags caught the attention of Mork. 

He’s catching a flight home from Sarasota to Michigan. 

You wouldn’t believe it, but gardening tools and even an electric grinder have been surrendered by passengers at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. 

With upwards of 13,000 passengers at peak travel for spring break, TSA knows there’ll be more. 

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Items confiscated at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

"We have a lot of people that come down here, from across the country. If you’re a local you’ll have to mix in with that over the next month and a half," said Mark Howell. 

Howell, the TSA Regional spokesperson for the area, said it is no longer a surprise to him and TSA agents. 

"We’ve seen things from chain saws to other gardening equipment like weed whackers. We had a Freddy Krueger glove that came out. We see a lot of strange things," he said. 

From blenders, to weights, wallet knives and more. 

All of these are no-no’s when packing your carry-on bag. 

A bucket of the items fills a TSA office at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. 

More are expected as spring break ramps up. 

"Whenever we have prohibited items like this, it will slow things down.  We will go through the options of getting rid of it, and we have to do a secondary bag search to make sure the bag is clear," said Howell. 

What you can do:

You can snap a photo and send it to TSA on Facebook messenger of "X." TSA will respond and let you know if the items you bring in your carry-on are okay or not. 

For more information, click here.

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