Your bag triggered the second look at TSA. The agent pulled it. They opened it in front of the line.
Your toiletries spilled out. Your underwear is on the conveyor. The line behind you is sighing.
Plenty of people. It does not have to repeat.
TL;DR TSA holds happen to bags with liquids over 100 ml, dense electronics, batteries, or shapes the X-ray cannot interpret. Pack the easy-to-scan version and the second look stops happening.
From the hundreds of students who ask me this exact question, the last time I had a TSA hold was a forgotten lithium battery in a checked bag, and that was 6 years ago.
The 4 things that get pulled.
Liquids over 100 ml. Even if you bought them at the destination, they get pulled coming home if they exceed.
Dense layered electronics. Camera body next to a hard drive next to a battery pack reads as one unrecognizable mass.
Batteries (especially lithium). Loose batteries, power banks over 100Wh, drone batteries.
Unusual shapes. Cooking equipment, sports gear, anything not flat.
The easy-to-scan packing.
Liquids: 100 ml or under, in a clear quart bag, on top of the bag for easy removal.
Electronics: each item in its own pocket, separated, near the top.
Batteries: in their original packaging or labeled cases, never loose.
The X-ray sees clean, separate items. No second look.
The system that handles this.
The 10-step Space-Saving Travel Packing Method I built over those 12+ years of traveling half the year covers TSA-friendly packing in Step 6.
Security stops being a stress event.
Easy-to-scan packing. Security stops being a hold.
Get Instant Access for $6730-day money-back guarantee.
Trusted by hundreds of students.
TSA looks for unclear shapes. Pack clear, separate, labeled.
12-year nomad, carry-on-only traveler across 5 continents, and creator of Organizing.TV.
I help you pack smaller, stress less, and actually enjoy the packing part of travel.