--- title: The TSA Just Made This Giant Teddy Bear Homeless description: One giant teddy bear won't be heading home for the holidays, thanks to the Transportation Security Administration and an LAX airline. canonical: https://time.com/4603233/tsa-teddy-bear-homeless/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-15T13:24:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:30.612Z og:title: The TSA Just Made This Giant Teddy Bear Homeless og:description: Someone tried to bring a huge bear as a carry-on. That didn't fly. og:url: https://time.com/4603233/tsa-teddy-bear-homeless/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e8fb2358e76e96/6988b30d8e0601b9bd468990/teddy-bear.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Light brown stuffed bear sitting on white surface og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The TSA Just Made This Giant Teddy Bear Homeless twitter:description: Someone tried to bring a huge bear as a carry-on. That didn't fly. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e8fb2358e76e96/6988b30d8e0601b9bd468990/teddy-bear.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The TSA Just Made This Giant Teddy Bear Homeless  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Dec 15, 2016 1:24 PM UTC  Detailed image of a stuffed bear. Image has copy space for your text. Useful for any themes dealing with children. Detailed image of a stuffed bear. Image has copy space for your text. Useful for any themes dealing with children.Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Dec 15, 2016 1:24 PM UTC One giant teddy bear won’t be heading home for the holidays, thanks to the [Transportation Security Administration](http://time.com/4576298/eddie-redmayne-on-james-corden/) and an airline that flies out of Los Angeles. The TSA [posted a photo of a forlorn stuffed bear](https://www.instagram.com/tsa/) dwarfing the trash can it leans against in an LAX terminal. Security decided that the bear was too large to screen or bring onto the plane, and published the sad shot on Instagram to encourage people to check about oversized carry-on items ahead of time. “Why does this gigantic [teddy bear](http://time.com/4255954/teddy-bear-endangered-species-list/) look so sad? He was abandoned by his owners at LAX after the airline and TSA determined that he was just too big to be screened as a carry-on and taken on the plane,” the caption read. In defense of the agents who separated the bear from its owners: No passenger should try to bring this excessively large stuffed animal into a cramped airplane cabin. [Leg room](http://time.com/money/4490391/get-more-leg-room-on-airplane/) is already scarce enough. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4603233/tsa-teddy-bear-homeless/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4603233/tsa-teddy-bear-homeless/"},"headline":"The TSA Just Made This Giant Teddy Bear Homeless","datePublished":"2016-12-15T13:24:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:30.612Z","description":"At the airport, ginormous stuffed animals won't fly","url":"https://time.com/4603233/tsa-teddy-bear-homeless/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e8fb2358e76e96/6988b30d8e0601b9bd468990/teddy-bear.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e8fb2358e76e96/6988b30d8e0601b9bd468990/teddy-bear.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Light brown stuffed bear sitting on white surface","caption":"Light brown stuffed bear sitting on white surface","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4603233/tsa-teddy-bear-homeless/","name":"The TSA Just Made This Giant Teddy Bear Homeless"}}]}] ```