This year, the Transportation Security Administration says it screened a record number of passengers, and if the past is any guide, it will handle millions of bags this holiday season. But a small fraction of them will go missing and unclaimed. So where do all those lost bags end up? Stephanie Sy visited the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, to find out.
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Amna Nawaz:
This year, the Transportation Security Administration says it's screened a record number of passengers and, if the past is any guide, will handle millions of bags this holiday season.
But a small fraction of them will go missing and unclaimed. Where do all those lost bags end up?
Stephanie Sy has this story.
Stephanie Sy:
Stuffed bunnies, fancy suits, and pink platform pumps.
Welcome to the country's only retailer of lost baggage. Just off the road in the small city of Scottsboro, Alabama, the Unclaimed Baggage store has everything anyone would need, except almost all of this once belonged to someone else.
Jennifer Kritner, Unclaimed Baggage:
I love to see the items that come from all over the world. Some of the musical instruments are just amazing.
Stephanie Sy:
Jennifer Kritner has been working here for 26 years. She encourages shoppers to check out the store's museum, where some of the more eccentric items found in baggage are displayed.
Jennifer Kritner:
An autographed Michael Jordan basketball is also among my favorites. I'm a huge basketball fan, so that stands out in my mind.
Stephanie Sy:
She says almost all checked bags, 99.5 percent, end up back with their owners after the flight. But some bags don't.
After airlines launch a three-month search to reconnect the owner to their lost bag, the store steps in to purchase that fraction-of-a-percent of bags that are orphaned.
Jennifer Kritner:
Our team of openers, that's what we call them, they open the suitcases and they really mine and explore those bags for treasures. These items, they're lost and they're unclaimed. And we need to figure out, can we resell this item? Do we need to recycle this item, or is this an item that can be donated?
Stephanie Sy:
Nashville resident Sheila Allen has been shopping here for over 20 years. She says the discount prices keep her driving back.
Sheila Allen, Shopper:
It amazes me the things people put in their suitcases for checked luggage. Like, this diamond ring that I have on, well, it's a heart-shaped diamond ring. It is a cluster of stones.
A year or so ago, I bought a pair of sandals that had never been worn. I paid 20 bucks for them. And when I looked the brand up online, they started at $120.
Bryan Owens, Owner and CEO, Unclaimed Baggage: What our guests have in common is, is, they love the thrill of the hunt. I mean, you never know what you're going to find.
Stephanie Sy:
Bryan Owens is the owner and CEO of Unclaimed Baggage. In 1970, his father, Doyle, started the company, borrowing a pickup truck to transport his first load of unclaimed bags.
Bryan Owens:
Our inventory, I have always thought about it like an archaeological dig. The bags and the lost-and-found items that were seeing now are different in many ways than we saw, say, 10 or 15 or 20 years ago.
We are seeing more bags come through our facility in the last couple of years than we have ever seen in the company's history.
Stephanie Sy:
Last year, some 26 million pieces of luggage were lost, delayed or damaged, the highest number in a decade.
Nicole Hogg, Baggage Portfolio Director, SITA:
People still kind of reeling from COVID, staff shortages, a lot of expertise lost in the industry. And we've seen a surge in the mishandled baggage rate.
Stephanie Sy:
Nicole Hogg is the director of baggage at aviation data company SITA. She says, after high lost luggage rates the last few years, new data shows signs of recovery.
Nicole Hogg:
What airlines are doing is investing in tracking devices, which gives full visibility of the bag throughout the whole journey from the time that the bag is checked in to when it arrives and is in the hands of the customer or the passenger.
You can track your pizza. You can track your Amazon delivery. And customers have put a lot of pressure on the airlines and the industry to be able to have that visibility available.
Stephanie Sy:
Still, for those passengers that can't find their bags even temporarily, the feeling of dread doesn't easily subside.
Brittany Loubier-Vervisch, Teacher:
I have never seen so many suitcases in my life. They were just everywhere.
Stephanie Sy:
Last December, Tampa-based schoolteacher Brittany Loubier-Vervisch's Southwest flight was canceled. While at the Tampa International Airport looking for her own missing suitcase, she decided to help others find theirs.
Brittany texted around 70 people after finding their phone numbers on luggage bag tags, an act of service that got her anointed online the Luggage Angel. On the receiving end of one of those messages was Taira Meadowcroft, a Missouri-based librarian.
Taira Meadowcroft, Librarian:
I get this text message and I'm like, that's weird. I was staring at it, like, who is this? And so I texted back and I was like, I'm very thankful for this. Here is a gift card, because I was, like, freaking out.
Brittany Loubier-Vervisch:
I could have been scrolling through my phone the whole time that I was waiting there. But, instead, I wanted to do something productive and helpful. Travel is so stressful for so many people. So I did what I could to help.
Stephanie Sy:
Now, a year later, Brittany has some advice for the frequent traveler.
Brittany Loubier-Vervisch:
The easiest thing really is to have something, like one of these little Velcro things that goes on your handle. You can get these straps. Like, this is just a plain strap, but you can have that embroidered or printed with your name. That was the lesson I learned is, clearly mark your bag.
Stephanie Sy:
Back in Scottsboro, Alabama, Sheila Allen is still shopping the items others have left behind.
She has this travel advice:
Sheila Allen:
I make sure, when I travel, not only do I have tags on the outside of my suitcase, but I have tags on the inside of my suitcase as to where I'm going, where I can be contacted. So, yes, I don't want to find my stuff here.
(Laughter)
Stephanie Sy:
She says, if she ever loses a bag, she would come right back here looking for it.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy.
