All Is Not Lost - Sometimes It's Found

Following the lead of United, Northwest, Delta and US Airways, Continental Airlines began a policy requiring passengers to pay a $25 fee to check a second bag. Any moment now, we'll have to declare this to be the industry-wide standard. Some folks will grumble while they pay that extra fee, but most of us will just end up carrying more stuff onto the plane.

That means, of course, overhead bin space will become even more crammed. Inevitably, weary travelers leave more stuff behind at airports. “We get more than 200 items a day turned in here — everything from cell phones, laptops, and prescription glasses to wallets full of cash and oxygen tanks,” said the man at the Phoenix airport. Some of the stuff folks leave behind is replaceable.

Stories like that are familiar to Priscilla Andrews, who heads up the lost-and-found department at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Her team once enlisted the help of a funeral home to track down the owner of a container of ashes left on the counter at a rental car agency.

The Lost-and-Found Departments of America’s major airports do their best to reunite you with your valuables.