All language subtitles for Inside.Airport.Lost.Found.2022.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

JOE (microphone): Oh, my goodness!
200, 300, 400. And 400, 300…

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

NARRATOR: Billions of people travel
through airports every year.

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

600, 600, sold it to you.
575, off 215, it's a buyer…

NARRATOR: With all those people
comes a whole lot of stuff.

JOE:
And sold, $80. Buyer number is 111.

NARRATOR: Some of that stuff
ends up at this auction.

We do it every fall,
and it cleans up all the items

that people have abandoned in the airport,
lost in the airport, automobiles.

Why not go for the shoes,
especially the red bottom shoes.

-$12,500 on the car.
-BOB: This year, we have a mini-Cooper,

which is one of the nicer cars
that we've seen.

The Cadillac Escalade
of a former Steelers player,

-JOE: Can I get fifteen?
-That one brought in a lot of money.

(unintelligible)
Now two, two, want to get two, now three.

NARRATOR:
But we're at the end of the road.

-All of this…
-JOE: You got a nice buy there, sir.

starts here.

(plane engine)

(indistinct chatter)

-From lost at the airport…
-We received a box of human remains.

-NARRATOR: To found in Alabama…
-A 40-carat Colombian emerald.

DEBORAH: Sometimes, it's a good
adventure, and sometimes not.

-NARRATOR: And sold at auction.
-JOE: Sold at $7,000.

NARRATOR:
This is the story of luggage gone lost.

PA SYSTEM: Welcome to
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

We want your journey to be a safe one,
for all members of your family.

NARRATOR: Ever wonder what happens
to your luggage after you check it in?

We did.

Today, we're going to be sending this
GoPro down the journey of the bag,

and we're gonna put this
protective case on here

because we have no idea exactly
what this camera will be encountering.

There we go.

(trap rendition of Deck the Halls plays)

-GUEST 1: Hello.
-Hi.

-Is Sacramento your final today?
-GUEST 1: Right.

CLERK:
And you are all set to go.

-GUEST 1: Awesome, thank you!
-CLERK: Thank you.

KEVIN: After your bag gets put
on the initial conveyor belt,

it goes through a series of conveyors,
sometimes several miles long,

that will take the bag through
an automated security screening.

NARRATOR: If the x-ray technology
detects a potential threat in a bag,

it sends the x-ray images to a TSA officer
who tries to resolve the threat.

If it's still questionable,
TSA manually inspects the bag.

Less than 5% of bags
are physically inspected.

KEVIN: When the bags leave security, the
sortation systems will move the bags over,

which then will go down a slide
down to the respective pier,

where an agent will load
the bag onto a cart.

NARRATOR:
But these are more than just bags.

They hold the clues to
who we are as travelers.

What we have in common
and what makes us unique.

KEVIN:
Once the bags arrive out at the aircraft,

they are uploaded onto the aircraft,
and they're off to their destination.

NARRATOR:
Or not.

MICHELLE: Thank you for calling
Seattle Airport Lost and Found.

My name is Michelle. How can I help you?

-Oh, my gosh!
-AGENT 1: Oh, my!

-TONY: Oh, interesting.
-MICHELLE: Oh, it's full of stuff.

NARRATOR: Every day, lost luggage
stacks up at airports around the world.

FIATELE: I can't judge a book by its cover
and every item has a different story.

-AGENT 2: Hi, how can I help you?
-Hi, I left something at TSA yesterday.

ALMA: What we do here is
lots of detective work, lots.

NARRATOR: Behind the scenes,
there are people working around the clock

to reunite all the lost
things with their owners.

MICHELLE:
I'm looking for clues. Oh, look at that.

This is what I love about lost and found
because you can be your own detective.

Yeah, they came from Hawaii.

I'm always surprised by the type
of items that people leave behind.

TSA AGENT 1:
You got document, 9816.

We received a Costco envelope from TSA.

It looks like maybe personal postcards.

Inside the envelope
is seasonal greeting cards.

It's a Christmas card and a New Year.

NARRATOR:
The Seattle International Airport

processes about 100 lost items every day.

FIATELE:
And this is from December 28, 1976.

NARRATOR:
And during the holidays, that doubles!

FIATELE:
It says 12/24/59.

These envelopes or seasonal greeting
cards seem to be very sentimental.

2007…

Every different item has a
different sense of emotion to it.

Maybe we could call Costco and
give them that order number

and they'll be able to pull it up.

NARRATOR: With about 430
commercial airports in the US,

we're talking millions
of lost items each year.

And that's not even
including the airlines.

Your flight with Alaska Airlines, a proud
member of the One World Alliance.

KEVIN: In 2021, which was
a year without that much travel,

we handled 43,000 left on-board items.

JAVIER: I would say I would
have at least once a day

somebody coming towards me
and say, "I think I left it onboard."

One time, I was working a flight, and
another passenger comes over and says,

"Hey, I was on this plane, it landed. I
think I left something of value in there."

And I said, "Okay, well, what is it?"
And he says, "it's my dentures."

So I went onboard.

And it was there on the floor, you know,
it's just the dentures, just right there.

So I grabbed a couple of
napkins to pick it up. (laughs)

And he also seemed
very relieved to find them.

KEVIN: The guests deplanes, and typically,
the items are found by our cleaners.

They will log the seat
that they found it in,

hopefully, they'll have the flight
number that had just come in.

They'll give that item either to the
customer service agent that met the flight

or, if it's a late at night flight,

they would bring it down
to the baggage service office.

JAVIER: If nobody claims those
items, then they get sent here

to Central Baggage Services,
and then we try to make a match.

AGENT 3: The way I describe it is we're
the lost and found for the whole airline.

Anytime something's left
on the plane, whether it's a pencil,

a wallet, an iPad, everything
gets sent here within 24 hours.

So we have a CPAP machine.

At this stage,
we're kind of just processing it.

Sorting it from high value, low value.

And then the next agent will actually be
able to do a little bit more research.

AGENT 4: We will start with high value
items. We do prioritize these items.

I'll go ahead and start with this laptop
and log it in as a found report.

KEVIN:
The first step that's taken,

is there any obvious signs
that we can reunite this item?

And here, we found a boarding pass.

KEVIN:
We log that into a technology system

that will help us identify key words in a
report that the guest has hopefully made.

AGENT 4: I do have a lost
report for the same flight.

Oh, I have two.
So, I will open each of these up.

And see if I can get a matching name.

Which I did!

At that point, we would
reach out to the guest.

I was calling to let you know
that I was able to match your lost report

with an item that we found
in our warehouse.

GUEST 2: Awesome. Alrighty, wonderful.
Thank you, ma'am. I'm so excited.

Everyone was like,
"I don't know. With no tags on it,

it's a 50/50 chance,
and I was like, "I just got that thing."

Oh, right. I did find your boarding
pass, so that helped a lot.

GUEST 2:
Thank you so much, ma'am.

Okay, thank you so much for choosing
Alaska. You have a great day.

I lost my bag.

FIATELE: We are always busy here
in the Lost and Found office,

but we get even
busier during the holidays.

(crowds chatter indistinctly)

This past holiday season we had
a suitcase of meat come into our office.

The suitcase was filled from bottom
to top with nothing but deer meat,

goat meat, sausage, many different items.

One interesting item that we saw was
a guy who lost a box of rocks.

A guy came through and he asked,
"Have you guys seen any rubies?"

No, we haven't seen any rubies.

He said, "Well, you probably
wouldn't know if they were rubies

because they're raw,
they look like rocks."

It was a box about like this,
and when we brought them out,

he goes, "Yeah, that's it, that's it."

FIATELE:
We've all been there before.

I think it's a common thing
we can all relate to.

Everybody's done it before.
I've done it myself.

Oh, yeah, head rests.

I've lost several head rests,
too embarrassed to say how many.

A very nice lady said,
"Ma'am, is this yours?"

I was so embarrassed.
I said, "Yes, it's mine, thank you."

It was a gift.

And then I had to run back and say,
"It's me, I left my bag onboard."

(laughs) And they said, "Don't you
work for an airline?" I said, "Yes."

To this day,
I still miss that brown sweater.

PA: Mark Jackson, please return to
the checkpoint for a left behind item.

Lost and Found
handles anything left behind

in security checkpoints
and any general airport areas.

(indistinct din)

TSA AGENT 1: Alright, let's go,
heading to checkpoint three,

to start the day for lost and found.

NARRATOR: 70% of Seattle's lost items
comes from the TSA checkpoints.

TSA AGENT 1:
Alright, gentlemen, excuse us please.

(indistinct chatter)

JUAN: First thing in the morning,
we check our lost and found database

and we compile a list
from all five screening checkpoints.

TSA AGENT 1:
We got 9324.

JUAN:
We go out to each individual checkpoint

and collect all their lost and found.

-TSA AGENT 1: And last item, 9015.
-TSA AGENT 2: 9015…

TSA AGENT 1:
Excuse me gentlemen.

JUAN: Pre-pandemic, we collected roughly
30,000 items on a yearly basis.

TSA AGENT 2:
So that one, I need…

JUAN: High travel seasons do
produce a lot more lost and found,

your summertime, your spring
breaks especially, holiday season.

-TSA AGENT 1: So three.
-TSA AGENT 2: Gotcha.

NARRATOR:
No TSA meant a lot less lost items.

Before TSA was established in 2001,

passengers merely had to walk
through a metal detector.

No removing belts or shoes.

And as for bag checks, what bag checks?

With fewer items removed,
fewer items were left behind.

TSA AGENT 1: Alright. How ya doing?
We're going to meet you at the back door.

JUAN: When the office opens up
here at 8:00 in the morning,

we come downstairs
with the bin or bins,

and we start turning them over
to the Port of Seattle.

-MICHELLE: Good morning!
-TSA AGENT 1: Hi, good morning, Michelle.

-MICHELLE: How are you guys?
-TSA AGENT 1: I'm good. How are you doing?

MICHELLE:
Wow, you got a lot of stuff for me today.

-TSA AGENT 1: That's right.
-MICHELLE: Alright, come on in.

JUAN: The most common items that I've seen
left behind at the security checkpoints

are usually laptops,
gaming consoles, iPads.

7478.

MICHELLE:
I guess we're moving to the laptop. Okay.

One of the most unusual items that I've
picked up through the lost and found

was actually today.
It was a tortilla press.

7582. Because you never know
when you want a quesadilla, right?

MICHELLE:
Yeah.

We have to check each one of the items,
especially with the clothing.

JUAN:
And 6847.

-MICHELLE:
Okay, so let's check the pockets. Sorry.

JUAN:
There's something in there.

NARRATOR:
In a typical travel year,

nearly $1 million is left behind
at TSA checkpoints, in cash!

JFK Airport takes
the cake with over $98,000!

MICHELLE: With the bags as
well, we have to go through it.

A lot of books. Oh…

If we get like a perishable
item inside those bags,

we have to take them out,
it can only stay there for 24 hours.

TONY: You can imagine a bag with a
banana that sits there for a month,

it's not going to be pretty.

MICHELLE: Aw… I know, sometimes
you can't help but to feel sorry

for the mama who's
traveling with this baby.

NARRATOR: Going through
all these items is a process.

-MICHELLE: Okay.
-TSA AGENT 2: You got it?

-Alright, we'll see you later.
-MICHELLE: See you later guys.

NARRATOR:
And sometimes, that process bears…

-MICHELLE: Oh, my gosh!
-NARRATOR: Unusual fruit.

MICHELLE:
There's actually fish inside!

(plane engine)

(indistinct chatter)

MICHELLE: Alright, so this bag
actually came from TSA.

But there's no name on it,
so let's see if we can find a name.

Okay, lots of goodies,
treats. (gasps) Oh, my gosh.

There's actually fish inside,
like real fish.

Why would… This is why we have to check.

It's smelly, smelly fish.

And I don't know why they put that in.

So… Sorry, we'll have
to dump this right away.

These items need to
go out from the bag,

and we have to dispose
of them, unfortunately

because it's really perishable items.

I'm interested to find
out what's inside this bag.

Looks like rice that is
from the bottom of the pot.

This might be like spices.

Oh, what's in here?
I think this is garlic chives.

Okay. Sorry, they will all go here.

Ah ha! Medication.

There is a medication here, which
gives me a clue who it belongs to.

Yep, there's a name,
so we can search for the owner.

I'm assuming they were
supposed to do sushi with that fish,

but sorry, have to go in there.
And that's about it for this bag.

FIATELE:
When we receive lost and found bags,

everything has to be
registered from inside out.

MICHELLE:
Hopefully, the name on this medication

will lead us to the owner of the bag.

NARRATOR: Raw fish is just one
of the many strange, lost items.

(flush)

The Dublin International
Airport has seen a left behind toilet,

life-sized mannequin, and headstone!

(indistinct)

NARRATOR: Pittsburgh International Airport
has its own laundry list of unusual items.

ELISE: When items are left throughout
the common areas of the terminals,

they are then turned into us
at the information desk.

We store those items for 30 days and try
to make every attempt to reach the owner.

Some of the strange items
that we have seen over the years,

a pair of souvenir alligator
heads, a rice maker,

a carpet steamer,
diving equipment, false teeth,

a 2500-page Vietnamese
to English dictionary,

that was very thick, about this thick.

-JOE: We got all those bracelets.
-ELISE: If they are then unclaimed,

we send them offsite in
preparation for the auction.

-LEE: Hey, Tony.
-TONY: Oh, hey, Detective Lee.

NARRATOR: Before the Seattle
Airport even thinks about an auction,

they let an actual detective
take a stab at finding owners.

LEE:
You got any good stuff for me this month?

TONY:
Yes, actually I do.

Our policy is to hold onto
items for 30 days.

-Three tablets here.
-LEE: Okay.

TONY:
What we would call high value items,

say a laptop or a tablet
or cell phone, jewelry,

we will turn those over to the police.

LEE:
Many years ago with lost and found,

because I have some experience
with computer forensics,

I felt that my skills would help
get some property back to folks.

-TONY: See you next month.
-LEE: See you next month.

LEE:
I just try to do an additional check

to try to get the property
back to the owners.

One of the easiest things is
checking 'em for stolen status.

Lost and found just doesn't
have the ability to do that,

so we check to see if these items
have been reported stolen.

Let's see if there's a SIM in there.
It looks like it might be a foreign SIM.

Over the years, because of people's
concerns over security and everything,

it makes it a lot harder sometimes
to actually get property back to folks.

And unfortunately,
I'm not able to read it.

It's one of those SIMs
that I'm just not able to read.

So with this particular phone,
I'm pretty much at a dead end.

The serial number is not reported stolen.

I'm not able to get any
phone number off the SIM card.

Alright, so…

It is kind of frustrating that, you know,

we'll have a $2,000 laptop sitting there,
and it's not reported stolen,

we don't have a name,
and we start running out of options.

All right, so this is one that
came in last month

that I still haven't had a
chance to get to yet,

and we've got a lot of
different pieces here.

And between these we should
be able to hopefully…

get a name that we can
get a phone number on.

NARRATOR: Sometimes, losing
your luggage is out of your control.

It looks like a lot of… Bozeman
must have had a weight balance issue,

-so they didn't send a lot of bags.
-GUEST 3: Okay.

KEVIN:
When you're out at the airport,

and your bag doesn't come
off the baggage claim,

we know that that feeling is really hard.

CLERK 2: I'm gonna call the
gate to see if they have it.

When a bag is not able
to be identified to a guest,

the airports will continue to try and
find the guest for the first five days.

On the sixth day, the bag is then tagged
to be sent here to Central Baggage,

where we will begin
a more intensive search.

There's a tag with a name.

There is some sense
of ownership on our part

that we didn't necessarily care
for that item like we should have.

I'm sorry that your baggage
didn't get to go with you.

We have it here, and we certainly
want to get it back to you.

KEVIN: It's in our nature to
want to rectify that situation.

This is a left onboard item. As of right
now, we have yet to find the owner.

A photo album that was given
from what we believe a wife to a husband.

We nicknamed the gentleman
on the front the pointing guy,

because throughout
the whole entire book,

all he is doing is pointing
every which way at every item.

KEVIN: A left behind item is a little bit
different than a checked item

because we don't necessarily
know who that item belonged to.

MICHELLE:
So we created a found report,

hoping that the guest
had submitted a lost report.

As of right now,
there was no trace results,

which means that nothing in our
system matched the two of them.

We actually pulled out
every single photo,

hoping that there was something written
on the back of one of them.

No luck there.

In one of the photos towards
the back, there is a boat,

which is registered
within the state of Washington.

And so, I ended up calling
the state of Washington

to see if I could get
any vessel information.

-But doesn't this look like him?
-(VO): What's next for us

is we're hoping to actually use the
power of social media in our favor.

AGENT 5:
That looks like Lake Chelan.

And so we just hope
that everyone can help us

try and figure out
who the pointing guy is.

Checked baggage, on the other hand,
has a better chance of making it home.

KEVIN: The amount of times
that we're unable to reunite

a checked bag with a guest is very small,
we're talking a fraction of a percent.

NARRATOR:
Across all airlines,

the chance of never getting
your bag back is less than half a percent.

But with billions of people traveling
every year, that half a percent adds up.

We're talking over
a million bags worldwide.

Many of them end up here.
(car honks)

DEWAYNE:
My name is DeWayne Griffith.

My job here at Unclaimed Baggage
is transportation specialist,

I go all over the country, coast to coast,
picking up lost luggage from airlines.

I'm picking up luggage on a weekly basis.
A lot of miles, a lot of hours.

I listen to a lot of podcasts,
I listen to a lot of talk radio,

probably too much sometimes.

Sometimes just music.

Sometimes, I'm amazed by
the number of bags that we get.

(brakes hiss)

Every day, I open dozens.

It depends on the size.
It depends on what's in the bag.

I usually open dozens.

Poncho, kitchen ware, masks,
lots of cologne, lots of shoes.

JENNIFER:
We're at Unclaimed Baggage,

and we're a retail store
in Scottsboro, Alabama,

and we work and partner
directly with the major airlines,

and we sell unclaimed baggage.

This is a nice shirt.
We have some nice clean socks.

Clean. These shoes look pretty good.

BRYAN:
It all got started with my dad,

who was a ham radio
operator back in the 1960s.

One day, a gentleman got
on the radio and said,

"I have this big problem
with unclaimed bags.

We have so many of them,
we don't know what to do with them."

My dad, he said,
"I think I see an opportunity there,

I may be able to help you."

My dad borrowed $300
from one of my grandfathers.

He borrowed my other grandfather's
1965 Chevy C10 pickup truck,

(car honks)
and he headed up towards Washington, DC.,

and bought his first load of unclaimed
bags from Trailways bus lines.

COMMERCIAL: ♪ You're not alone,
when you're traveling Trailways ♪

And then we segued into the airline world.

('70s funk)

NARRATOR: Air travel in the '70s looked
a little different than it does today.

The new 747 jet boasted spiral staircases,
and smoking was permitted.

The alcohol was flowing,
and meals were carved to order.

Sitting in coach
was like going to the movies.

BRYAN: In the early '70s, it would've
started with Eastern Airlines.

And they lost a ton of bags.
That was our first airline.

And now, we work with pretty much
all of them throughout the industry.

NARRATOR: In 50 years of going
through other people's stuff,

they've come across some surprising items.

One of the most noteworthy to me
is the 40-carat Colombian emerald.

It was in the toe of a sock,
rolled up in the corner of a suitcase.

I don't think I'll ever forget it.

(back-up beeper)

NARRATOR:
Today,

DeWayne is the guy delivering all this
unclaimed baggage to Scottsboro.

And that's where this process begins.

-Hi, Ms. Deborah, here's your next bag.
-Thank you.

JENNIFER: As they're opening the bag,
going through their archaeological dig,

they're deciding if we're gonna sell it,

if we need to recycle it,
or if we need to donate it.

And this is a nice surprise,
ceramic heater.

We open bags, sort everything out,

send them to the departments
where they belong.

Oh! That's nice!
The Beatles. Yeah!

-A third of everything we get is recycled.
-Nice pants, check the pockets.

More underwear, everything
looks pretty fresh, that's nice.

JENNIFER: So, obviously,
people travel with undergarments.

We never sell any used undergarments.

We're going to recycle
those with fabric waste.

You will be amazed at
how many people travel

with brand new and packaged underwear.

We'll price those and put
them our sales floor to sell.

DEBORAH: It does feel like I'm
stepping into somebody else's life.

Feel like this might be a ukulele.

And I like seeing where people have been.

(chuckles) Make sure
it's in tune or out of tune.

(out-of-tune plucking)

The bags usually tell a story, and you
never know what you're going to find.

And it's kind of an adventure,
kind of, at times.

Sometimes it's a good adventure,
and sometimes not.

So one of the most hair-raising things
we found at Unclaimed Baggage

was a live rattlesnake.

One of our openers,
as she was opening a duffel bag,

a live rattlesnake
came slithering out of it.

I think that they released it
out behind the building, yeah,

to let him live on,
live another day. (laughs)

$100, able to get $100, a hand!

NARRATOR: In Pittsburgh, some of the most
surprising unclaimed items are cars.

BOB: The abandoned vehicles are
always the most popular items.

We're usually left with
between 10 and 20 cars a year.

We contact the owners,
the police contact the owners,

the Department of Transportation
contacts the owners.

And if there's still
no response from those folks,

then it comes to us for the auction.

JOE: $2500 on that little Nissan.
$1000 bid, 12 and a half…

$1000, able to get 12 and a half,
able to get 12 and a half,

able to get 12 and a half, give $1100
dollars on a Nissan. Down 12…

I think some of the cars
can be left behind

if people are on maybe extended vacations.

JOE: $1000, $2000, three, four…
four, four, five, five, six…

BIDDER 1:
Yes, that's it!

ELISE:
If the car doesn't have a lot of value,

they may not want to pay
some of the parking fees,

or the towing storage fees
that the airport would charge,

and they just simply abandon the car.

JOE:
Seven grand, 71? Sold at $7,000.

NARRATOR: There are some left behind items
that hold more of a sentimental value.

So… we got this bag a couple weeks ago,

and I'm gonna do
a secondary research on it.

We've got this brown case here.
Let's see what's in this case.

Oh, interesting.

(crowd chatters indistinctly)

We got this brown case here.

What we're looking at now is
a Ace hardware bag with a brown box.

Photos, medals, military medals.

Inside the box, what we
have are military medals,

a name tag, and a lot of pictures.

We've got a Naval Reserve
Organization Association card,

and a Selective Services card.

Since those are all in one person's name,
I'm gonna try and look him up.

So I've got one person
in Kansas, they're 51,

so that would not be them

because the Selective Services
card is going back to '55.

And then I have another
person, but they're deceased.

We also have a photograph of a baby,

which has a date of 1987,
and it also has her name on there.

Let's try the young lady
that was actually on this picture.

We have her listed here as well.

I've been able to find several people that
appear to be associated with this person.

I've placed several phone calls.

Yes, hi, Maryanne.
My name is Tony.

So hopefully, one of these people
know who this is and will call back.

-Looks like shirts.
-NARRATOR: Back in Alabama,

a third of all the luggage Unclaimed
Baggage receives is sold.

And it looks clean, but we'll launder it.

(rumbling)

(steam hissing)

EMPLOYEE:
We're very proud of our laundry facility.

We are actually the largest
in the state of Alabama.

We process more in one month than
most of them do in an entire year.

It's just surprising what people
take in their luggage. (laughs)

Dishes, silverware, water bottles,
(laughs) there is a lot of those.

I guess the one that stands out
the most, I've washed car mats.

Why somebody took that on
their vacation, I don't know. (laughs)

NARRATOR:
Electronics get the full work-up too.

The most we get in is usually
headphones, stuff like that,

so it's really just getting
all germs, everything, cleaned off.

After we clean them, we test them
to make sure they're functioning.

JENNIFER: And from there,
they're gonna data-wipe everything.

Our pricers will then price
the merchandise

whether it's apparel, shoes, jewelry,
accessories, electronics.

NARRATOR: The jewelry counter is
where you'll find some big-ticket items.

CLERK 3: This diamond engagement ring
appraised for a little over $10,000,

and we have it listed
for a little over $5,000.

This is an emerald and
diamond tennis bracelet.

We have it listed
at a little over $14,000.

NARRATOR: But there are some
things you can't put a price tag on.

In the '90s,

a shipping container showed up with
a guidance system for fighter jets.

BRYAN: And it said, "Department of the US
Navy, handle with extreme caution,

I am worth my weight in gold."

NARRATOR:
The actual gold is authenticated,

appraised, priced, and put on the floor.

These look like they are diamonds,

but then I can also use my diamond
tester, and it does test diamond.

This ruby ring is currently
the most expensive item in the store.

(cash register ding)

The most expensive item we've ever sold
in our store was a men's platinum Rolex.

(cash register ding)

It's just a pretty cool experience to come
be a part of and see what all people lose.

Okay, lot number one,
we have a whole lot of earrings…

NARRATOR:
Some of the lost jewelry in Pittsburgh

has people scratching their heads.

ELISE: We are always surprised
with how many wedding rings

are turned in to the lost and found,

mainly men's wedding rings,
we're not sure why.

A lot of them are claimed,

but there are still a good amount that
are turned over to us at the auction.

We also this year have a pair of
stiletto heels that are brand new,

so I think that will maybe
draw in the ladies. (laughs)

BOB: I think that people are interested
in just seeing what items are left behind.

Hi, I lost a case of harmonicas.
Is there any chance you guys have it?

Okay, let me go see if I can find it.

HARMONICA MAN: I grabbed it off the plane,
and then I was coming here,

and I went outside to wait for my ride,
and I just set it against the wall.

I thought for sure that it was gone.

Yeah. (laughs)

Thankfully, some kind
soul decided to turn it in.

They were pretty intrigued
by what was inside. (laughs)

Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.

AGENT 6:
You're very welcome.

(harmonica riff)

Yeah, they still work. (laughs)

NARRATOR: If you lose an
item at one of Paris's airports,

it will eventually end up at the world's
very first lost and found office.

Established by Napoleon in 1804,
the Bureau of Found Objects

has received a human skull, a taxidermy
lobster, and a saber from 1892.

This is one that came in last month.

NARRATOR: But in Seattle, some of
the lost items end up with this guy.

LEE: The logo on here doesn't
appear to go with any sort of school.

I'm looking for something that may
talk about a particular school,

then I can know a particular
city where that person lives.

When we go to get a name, a lot of times
it helps if we have middle initials,

information like that,
or a city will help as well.

What we have…

is a kid's Kindle Fire.

On that Kindle Fire tablet, the parent
had set up two profiles for the kids,

he just used initials for the children.
We got a name and a middle initial.

PA SYSTEM: Did you lose
something? File a lost item…

We might get lucky with this name.

I have different databases that I can use,
and if it's a unique enough name,

I can try to track down
the owner that way.

We only got one, let's give her a call.

Sometimes, the time zone can
help me kinda pinpoint the region

and increase the chances that
I'm actually getting the correct person.

Hi, this is Detective Donlan with
the Port of Seattle Police Department.

Sometimes, there's enough
breadcrumbs of items in a particular bag

that allows me to kinda track them down.

Yeah, yeah, Curious George
is here, he's sitting on my desk.

Yep, so we got the Kindle,
the backpack, the colorful backpack,

the Curious George,
and we'll get 'em home.

NARRATOR: Curious George is
lucky he'll make it home.

But at Unclaimed Baggage, millions of
items end up in other people's homes.

Some of those items
aren't what you'd expect.

It's amazing what people travel with.

WOMAN: About 20 years ago,
they had this on a mannequin,

and I mean, "Oh,"
I said, "is that for sale?"

and they said, "Yes,"
and I said, "I want it."

This is a charm bracelet-- that I have
been collecting charms for several years.

JENNIFER:
One of the most interesting things

that we've gotten consistently over the
years have been wedding gowns.

I can remember at least
two full suits of armor.

We've had a number of kilts,
a number of bagpipes.

BRYON:
We actually had a camera show up

that was a camera for the space shuttle
and had been on space shuttle missions,

and we got that
back into the hands of NASA.

NARRATOR:
For the Seattle Airport Lost and Found,

getting items back into
the right hands is the goal.

MICHELLE:
Okay, so we'll get the label.

That's a possible owner
because it matches the medication.

We'll give them a call.
Mrs. Kim? Oh, it's your mom?

Oh, gotcha. You know,
we found vegetables and fish in there.

I did find a match for
the bag with the raw fish.

Looks like they did file a lost report.

And unfortunately, it can't stay in the
bag, so we have to throw them away. Okay?

The bag is confirmed with the owner,
and they will pick it up tomorrow.

Alright, we'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Kim.

NARRATOR: At the end of the day, there
are ultimately items that go unclaimed.

Many of them are donated
to various organizations.

But some go to the dogs.

LEE: Our bomb canine unit
uses some of the suitcases

and clothing items and even
some of the cosmetics,

and toiletry items in these unclaimed bags

because they're able to then
incorporate that into their training

for their bomb dogs.

JOE:
Good morning again, ladies and gentlemen.

We'd like to welcome
you all to the auction.

LEE: If the electronics are still in good
shape, we can send them off to auction.

JOE: And lost and found from
the airport accumulation for the…

We're here at Pittsburgh International
Airport's annual auction.

JOE: We're getting ready to
auction off all the lost and found

and items that were abandoned throughout
the last year here at the airport.

Come on down,
let's have a sale, sale time!

It's always interesting to see
what items get left here.

BIDDER 2: I'm looking for
hardware, either myself or for resale.

BIDDER 3:
When I saw these lots of laptops,

I'm hoping to donate them
to my civil air patrol unit.

BIDDER 4:
Electronics, ear pods.

I would bid on that truck, but she'll kill
me if I drive it home, so I can't do that.

BIDDER 5:
That Mini Cooper seems like a nice car.

I'm gonna bid on it and see what happens.

JOE: The auction company
will accept a money order,

cashier's check, certified check.

BOB: This year there's a Mini
Cooper, and the pick-up truck,

so personally I'm interested to see
what are the cars going for.

Those are always
the big-ticket items here.

One of the cars we did have, it was
a former Pittsburgh Steelers player.

He had since moved on to Chicago.
His car was parked here in the lot,

and he just never responded
and didn't come back and get his car,

so it ultimately went to auction.
It was a Cadillac Escalade.

NARRATOR:
At London's Heathrow Airport,

the unclaimed baggage gets
auctioned off twice a month.

The difference here is there's
no peeking in the bags before you bid.

Going once, anybody bid 15,000,
going twice, anybody bid 15,000,

sold at $14,750.

NARRATOR:
Out of all the left behind items,

the Mini Cooper brought in the most cash.
But every single item was sold.

BIDDER 6.
This is totally crazy,

I had not expected any
kind of… this kind of stuff.

But being a big fan of the NFL
and the Steelers,

I got a couple of game-worn jerseys.

(indistinct voices)

Nice and dirty, meaning
they're game worn. (laughs)

I won six lots of jewelry. How
much did I spend? $2600.

-$275 for five iPhones, that's not bad.
-$8,000 which was actually our limit.

Why not go for the shoes,
especially the red-bottom shoes.

I think it's still setting
in that I actually won them.

BOB: Most years, the Airport Authority
auction raises more than $150,000.

The money that's raised goes
to the Airport Authority Foundation

which supports military scholarships,
those types of things.

Yeah, this was our first time.
Probably won't be the last though.

Oh yeah, I'll come
back next year for sure.

Go home and play with our new toys.

(plane engine)

NARRATOR: An auction is one way
to get rid of unclaimed baggage.

But at the Unclaimed Baggage Center,

there's so much lost stuff,
it's impossible to sell it all.

At Unclaimed Baggage, you might think
you'd find a lot of, well, baggage.

But that's not the case.

DIANE:
Many years ago,

we started donating luggage to the
Department of Human Resources,

and that actually came
from a newspaper article

that had talked about foster children,
and they were giving them garbage bags.

And so I remember
just being taken by that article.

NARRATOR: Unclaimed Baggage decided
to take matters into their own hands.

DIANE: We stopped all luggage going
to the floor, anything that we sold,

and we started holding
these for about two weeks.

And I can remember calling
them and saying,

"We're on our way with our first load,"
and we filled the sidewalks.

We decided no children in our community

was going to go with
a black bag ever again.

And then we started the decorating,
we thought, "Hey, look, this is a gift."

So that's why we
decided to start painting it.

NARRATOR: The last third of the luggage
that ends up at Unclaimed Baggage

gets donated.

We get so much excess, there could
be no way that we could sell it all.

And so we have found
partners to get this product

into the hands of people that can use it.

The cosmetics that are in the bag,
we can put those in the back…

I have a small charity organization,

and I've come to pick up some
donations from Unclaimed Baggage.

Couple of years ago, a buddy of mine,
both Navy Vietnam veterans,

were traveling down the road,
and we saw a veteran,

he was homeless, and he didn't have
a coat, and it was pretty cold outside,

so my buddy and I went
and purchased a coat for him.

And then we decided that,

"Wait a while, maybe there's more people
out there," so him and I went around,

looking for veterans or basically
anybody that needed a coat.

My dentist up here informed me that,

"Hey, Unclaimed Baggage has a
department that they donate stuff.

Why don't you talk to 'em?"

Then the whole thing just exploded 'cause
now we had access to hundreds of coats.

Our charity became
a distributorship if you will.

We found people who needed stuff,

we had a sponsor that would give
that to us, and we just gave it out.

And that's how it is right now.
That's what we been doing.

JENNIFER: I cannot begin to
give you a number of…

tens of thousands of pairs
of eyewear, probably each year,

comes through our store.

MAN: One year, we got 55,000 pairs of
glasses and sunglasses from Unclaimed.

These are top-notch glasses and readers.

I mean, the readers, these folks
on airplanes don't buy cheap readers.

JENNIFER:
With all the giving that we do,

we do still have
luggage available in store.

What would Unclaimed Baggage
be without a few bags on the shelves?

(indistinct chatter)

MARYANNE'S MOM: Does it have a lot of
little knickknacks in that brown box?

Yes ma'am.

MARYANNE: Yeah, it's my dad,
and it has all these tiny little pins.

TONY:
You got my voicemail?

MARYANNE'S MOM:
No, this is my daughter's phone number.

Ah, okay.

MARYANNE'S MOM: I don't know
how that even transpired.

TONY:
There was a baby picture of her.

We saw the name, and we were
able to look it up by the name.

We went through LinkedIn,
and True People Search and everything.

-MARYANNE'S MOM: Wow!
-The woman who called back

was actually the daughter of the
gentleman that the box belonged to,

and he is deceased.

MARYANNE'S MOM:
It wasn't me that left it, it was my son.

So thank you so much for returning…

'Cause that is a real memory thing.
It was his grandfather's.

-TONY: Right.
-MARYANNE'S MOM: And he really wanted it.

TONY: She asked that we keep the item for
her for a few days until she gets here.

MARYANNE'S MOM:
And we'll see you Wednesday.

Yes, ma'am. I'll be here bright-eyed.

NARRATOR: So what did happen to all the
lost items we've been tracking?

What's the best thing about my job?

Seeing the joy in people's face
when their item is returned.