No NCAA Final Four programs in carry-on when flying home from NOLA. Here’s why.
An official NCAA Twitter account put out a message Monday morning with a request from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA): Don’t put official NCAA Final Four game programs from the event in your carry-on baggage at the airport.
Twitter users immediately expressed confusion about the original message, which has since been deleted, since it didn’t say why TSA had given that advice.
It also wasn’t clear from the original tweet’s wording whether the information applied to the programs for the Women’s Final Four tournament in Minneapolis or the Men’s Final Four in New Orleans — or both.
Since we know many North Carolina Tar Heels fans have traveled to New Orleans to watch their team play in the final rounds of the tournament, and many will likely want to bring home souvenir programs, we started looking for answers.
Does the message apply to the Men’s Final Four official programs? And why are the programs a potential risk at the airport?
Here’s what to know.
What did the original tweet from NCAA say?
In the original tweet sent from the Women’s Final Four Twitter account, the NCAA said:
“If you purchased an Official Game Program, TSA asks that you please place the program in your CHECKED BAGGAGE. DO NOT put any NCAA MFF programs in your Carry-On baggage and DO NOT pack more than 4 programs in any one CHECKED bag.”
While the tweet was sent from the Women’s Final Four account, it used the abbreviation “MFF,” which stands for “Men’s Final Four.”
The original tweet has since been deleted, and a new tweet shares advice for the Women’s Final Four, not “MFF.”
The graphic included with the message, which was the same for the original and new tweets, said travelers should not carry “ANY” NCAA Final Four program in their carry-on baggage, but it was somewhat unclear whether that included programs from the men’s games.
Does the message apply to Men’s Final Four?
Yes, the warning is the same for the Men’s Final Four and its official game program, an NCAA spokesperson confirmed to The News & Observer via email Monday.
So, if you’re in New Orleans for the Men’s Final Four and purchased game programs, you’ll want to follow the same advice in the original tweet if you’re traveling by plane to get back home.
That means:
▪ Don’t put your game programs in your carry-on bags.
▪ Put your programs in your checked baggage.
▪ Do not put more than four programs in any one checked bag.
Why can’t programs go in carry-on bags?
An NCAA spokesperson told The N&O Monday that TSA advises travelers to put the programs in checked bags because the hologram on the program can trigger the machines that scan carry-on bags in airports.
Chad Laytham, who says he makes the programs for the NCAA, told The N&O on Twitter that the issue is actually due to the thickness of the programs, not a hologram. Laytham said the scanners have trouble “seeing through” the programs, which means airport security will likely want to open travelers’ bags and inspect them, slowing the security process down.
Either way, it doesn’t seem that there is a safety risk from putting the programs in your carry-on bags, but it could cause delays in security lines by triggering the scanners.
Similar advice was issued by airports after the Men’s Final Four in San Antonio in 2018 and Super Bowl XLIX in Phoenix in 2015, though those messages told travelers to put the programs in their carry-ons (the opposite advice given in the NCAA’s tweet Monday).
This story was originally published April 4, 2022 at 12:09 PM.
