With the last year bringing a number of key changes — including an enforced Real ID requirement and no longer needing to take off one’s shoes — much confusion around Transportation Security Administration (TSA) policies remains among travelers and is often spread on the internet.

This week, View from the Wing shared a video of a traveler stacking up bins after retrieving their items from the scanner. The video went viral on several social media channels, reigniting debate about whether this is something travelers are supposed to do.

“Always having to start a shift at security because no one cleanes [sic] up after themselves,” a content creator operating under the @currentdowns username wrote over a video of himself stacking multiple bins at the TSA belt.

Do you have to stack bins at TSA screening? The internet debates

Within a few days of being posted on Dec. 26, the video gathered over 264,000 upvotes and tens of thousands of comments debating whether doing this is actually the travelers’ responsibility.

“Nothing bothers me more than people leaving the trays to pile up,” one commenter wrote underneath the video in a comment that received over 31,000 likes. Low-cost airline Ryanair also chimed in with a post calling the original poster “KING.”

Related: TSA issues stern warning about wearing this to the airport

Whether the passenger is obligated to “help out” by stacking trays in this way remains an unresolved conflict akin to seat reclining. The TSA has, however, previously weighed in, saying there is no official rule, ABC News reported.

Some airports have newer conveyor belts that automatically sort the bins once they reach the end of the belt, while at others, the agents end up stacking them themselves and so may appreciate passengers who make their job easier in any small way.

“As ex-TSA, thank you,” another highly-upvoted comment underneath the original video reads.

But as pointed out by others, the biggest issue with deciding to be helpful is that the TSA bins are one of those items rarely considered “dirty,” but not actually cleaned nearly as often as other parts of the airport.

TSA bins are touched by thousands of travelers before they get cleaned.

Shutterstock

Those TSA bins you want to stack? One of the dirtiest things you can touch

“Rollaboard bags have been dragging on the ground, from the parking lot, through airports, and across destinations and then they go in these bins,” Gary Leff of aviation website View From The Wing weighed in on the subject.

“People who may be sick are touching them, coughing on them. I don’t want to touch more of these bins than I have to! TSA employees get nitrile gloves, passengers don’t.”

More Travel News:

  • Major airline launches surprising flight between Las Vegas and Paris
  • United Airlines CEO gives stark warning on Olympic Games
  • The highest rooftop in Barcelona is in a surprising place
  • US government issues sudden warning on Switzerland travel

In January 2025, Frommer’s cited TSA agent Jauan Kenney’s TikTok post to explain to passengers, who may not have given the matter much thought, just how dirty these bins may be.

“So you put your vapes in a tray?” Kenney goes on to explain why he always places any stray items that go through the scanner either on or in a plastic bag. “Just know someone has probably stepped in dog s***. Someone stepped on the ground and put their shoes in a tray.”

Related: Unexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026