TSA Bin Photo Travel Trend: Does the TSA Allow It? - Thrillist

Travelers love romanticizing their life, don't they? Every glance between solo travelers lends itself to a potential meet-cute. Even TSA trays can be romanticized if looked at through a camera lens. It's all in the details of a polished and organized setup, and TravelTok—the TikTok corner dedicated to travel—will teach you everything about it.

Instead of scrambling and chucking their belongings into the trays, participants of this trend like to take their sweet time to perfectly arrange their bin, much like they would a flower bouquet. It has to look picture-perfect, after all, for the perfectly angled aerial snapshot that'll ultimately make its grand debut on a curated vacation recap post.

And it's all fun and games until you are the next passenger in line. "These 'tray displays' might look great on Instagram or TikTok, but they're adding unnecessary time to the security process," Gavin Lapidus, travel consultant and founder of online travel agent and tour operator eShores, previously told Thrillist. "In busy airports, even small delays can quickly cause irritation or further hassle."

But there must be a solution, or at least a compromise between social media stardom and security check etiquette, right? So we went directly to the source, and asked the TSA about its official stance on the social media trend.

In short, the TSA doesn't have an issue with you wanting to participate in the trend—but you must follow certain guidelines to ensure a smooth travel experience for everyone involved.

"Our recommendation is that if someone wants to photograph their bin, the best way to go about it is to go through the checkpoint screening process and afterward set up the bin and take the photo instead of doing it before it goes through the X-ray unit," TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein told Thrillist. "Setting up a bin to 'look pretty' before going through the line could delay the individuals behind you."

If you do it afterward, the TSA won't really have an issue with you because you won't be inconveniencing anybody else. As long as you wait until after the checkpoint to do it, you can even "take all the time you want," Farbstein added.

On TikTok, some people are already testing the smart version of this trend out. "Life hack: Get your pic after TSA," reads the overtext in one of these videos. "[I don't know] why I was trying to do it before going through the machine and panicking."

But if that fails, just remember that not everything is what it seems online, and you can always stage a photo in the comfort of your own home... or office. "I bought a bin," confesses one user in the video's comment section, "and did it at work before the trip."

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