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There’s a store like this in Alabama also profiled many times appropriately called ”Unclaimed Baggage” and acts as a clearing house for most of the US lost bags

There’s a store like this in Alabama also profiled many times appropriately called ”Unclaimed Baggage” and acts as a clearing house for most of the US lost bags. Since 9/11 and newer TSA regulations have gone into effect, as well as just how much better we’ve gotten at tracking bags electronically, the quality and churn at the store has kind of plummeted. One thinks one may pick up some Ming Dynasty vase or fossilized velociraptor eggs lost in transit (and to be sure there were good deals back in the day) but the reality now is more like a large thrift store. We all grumble about air travel but “lost bags” feels like something that’s gotten markedly less common over the past 20 years.

s0rce 7y ago
But you can get great deals on TSA confiscated pocket knives and corkscrews. https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=2341&acctid=1328 https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=2341&...
- mindslight 7y ago
  Similarly, you can get great deals on stolen items on craigslist.
- unixhero 7y ago
  This simply is stealing. Thanks for the link, I'm now disgusted.
  - dspillett 7y ago
    What would you like to see happen instead? Let people break the rule and take the items in their carry-on? (in which case why have the rule in the first place?) Pay people when they take the items? That is going to be an administrative faf all because people can't read and follow rules correctly - do you want to pay for that admin in your ticket prices? Allow people to pay for the items to be stored until their return? They'll be accused of profiteering there too because again the admin work will need to be paid for, and there is a logistical problem when people don't return to the same airport. Just send the confiscated items to landfill? You might argue that a lot of the security theatre around air travel places a hindrance on the passengers and that you consider it unfair, but the rules about carrying sharp objects are very clearly documented (at least they have been when I fly around Europe, are the US processes less organised?) and well known even if you don't bother to read the documentation, so having such items taken off you if you do bring them in pockets or other carry-on luggage should be no surprise.
    - jiofih 7y ago
      Yes, simply allowing the pickup of your own confiscated items would suffice.
      - s0rce 7y ago
        My wife has hidden a pocket knife under a floor standing ATM in the departure area at O'Hare pre-security and retrieved it when she got back, it wasn't discovered. Not recommended but there is a way to do this, "unofficially", success not guaranteed. Don't leave bomb-shaped packages.
    - jaclaz 7y ago
      >What would you like to see happen instead? No problem about the sale/auction, but where does the money go? I would prefer to know that the money coming from the bulk sale is going to a known non-profit, as an example.
      - wdrw 7y ago
        Arguably the US government is the "best-known" non-profit :)
    - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
      >What would you like to see happen instead? A post office branch located just outside security that is stocked with 100x the normal number of the cheap flat rate bubble wrap envelope so that people not wanting to lose their items can mail things they shouldn't fly with home or to their destination and then get back in line. To go even further (i.e. something that isn't zero net cost), a great many of the things that you can't carry on can be checked. It wouldn't be hard or particularly costly (though obviously it would still cost something) to reserve half yard of space for those kinds of belongings and find some simple way to make sure they get on the plane and get to their owner.
      - dspillett 7y ago
        Or you, the passenger, could put the item in your checked baggage before hitting any processing (assuming you have any checked baggage of course, it is common not to for short trips), or post it back to yourself before hitting security. Ignoring any cost implications (in both the above circumstances the passenger could be charged at the time), security getting involved in this will just add to the delay experienced by passengers further back in the queue.
Haga 7y ago
They don't even make digital pictures of your luggage.
GordonS 7y ago
Anecdotal, but I used to fly regularly with British Airways, and between 2000-2010 or so, they would frequently lose my bags - maybe 25% of the time, no exaggeration. As something of a blessing, it was always on the return journey. But since 2010, I don't think I've had a single lost bag!
- ehnto 7y ago
  Did you change how you packed while it was an issue?
- dspillett 7y ago
  A large chunk of this will just by improved procedures and tech† generally, driven by the desire for efficiency improvements, so it would have happened anyway, but I assume change was accelerated due to increased accountability requirements. The airlines, airports and other service companies involved are under pressure to know exactly what bags are where at any given time. A suspect package can gnarl up the system enough, but no one wants it to be on their watch that there is a call to find a suspect passengers bags and that is impossible due to a mistake. I'm surprised you noticed a change since 2010, given the sudden bump in security requirements from late 2001 I'd have expected a noticeable change closer to that time. [†] less things falling off conveyors, getting their labels ripped off on the way through, better recording and identifying of bags via QR codes so if something does go the wrong way it can be easily identified and re-re-routed, etc.
habosa 7y ago
I still lose bags a very high percentage of the times that I check them (maybe 20%) so I never check them. It's far from solved.
- mantap 7y ago
  I'm curious what routes you are flying and what airlines?
- ghaff 7y ago
  Lose or delayed? I find delayed is probably 10% or more, especially with connecting flights and when weather causes changes. Though I rarely check luggage at all. But I have never permanently lost a bag.

s0rce 7y ago

But you can get great deals on TSA confiscated pocket knives and corkscrews. https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=2341&acctid=1328 https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=2341&...

mindslight 7y ago
Similarly, you can get great deals on stolen items on craigslist.
unixhero 7y ago
This simply is stealing. Thanks for the link, I'm now disgusted.
- dspillett 7y ago
  What would you like to see happen instead? Let people break the rule and take the items in their carry-on? (in which case why have the rule in the first place?) Pay people when they take the items? That is going to be an administrative faf all because people can't read and follow rules correctly - do you want to pay for that admin in your ticket prices? Allow people to pay for the items to be stored until their return? They'll be accused of profiteering there too because again the admin work will need to be paid for, and there is a logistical problem when people don't return to the same airport. Just send the confiscated items to landfill? You might argue that a lot of the security theatre around air travel places a hindrance on the passengers and that you consider it unfair, but the rules about carrying sharp objects are very clearly documented (at least they have been when I fly around Europe, are the US processes less organised?) and well known even if you don't bother to read the documentation, so having such items taken off you if you do bring them in pockets or other carry-on luggage should be no surprise.
  - jiofih 7y ago
    Yes, simply allowing the pickup of your own confiscated items would suffice.
    - s0rce 7y ago
      My wife has hidden a pocket knife under a floor standing ATM in the departure area at O'Hare pre-security and retrieved it when she got back, it wasn't discovered. Not recommended but there is a way to do this, "unofficially", success not guaranteed. Don't leave bomb-shaped packages.
  - jaclaz 7y ago
    >What would you like to see happen instead? No problem about the sale/auction, but where does the money go? I would prefer to know that the money coming from the bulk sale is going to a known non-profit, as an example.
    - wdrw 7y ago
      Arguably the US government is the "best-known" non-profit :)
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    >What would you like to see happen instead? A post office branch located just outside security that is stocked with 100x the normal number of the cheap flat rate bubble wrap envelope so that people not wanting to lose their items can mail things they shouldn't fly with home or to their destination and then get back in line. To go even further (i.e. something that isn't zero net cost), a great many of the things that you can't carry on can be checked. It wouldn't be hard or particularly costly (though obviously it would still cost something) to reserve half yard of space for those kinds of belongings and find some simple way to make sure they get on the plane and get to their owner.
    - dspillett 7y ago
      Or you, the passenger, could put the item in your checked baggage before hitting any processing (assuming you have any checked baggage of course, it is common not to for short trips), or post it back to yourself before hitting security. Ignoring any cost implications (in both the above circumstances the passenger could be charged at the time), security getting involved in this will just add to the delay experienced by passengers further back in the queue.

Haga 7y ago

They don't even make digital pictures of your luggage.

GordonS 7y ago

Anecdotal, but I used to fly regularly with British Airways, and between 2000-2010 or so, they would frequently lose my bags - maybe 25% of the time, no exaggeration. As something of a blessing, it was always on the return journey. But since 2010, I don't think I've had a single lost bag!

ehnto 7y ago
Did you change how you packed while it was an issue?
dspillett 7y ago
A large chunk of this will just by improved procedures and tech† generally, driven by the desire for efficiency improvements, so it would have happened anyway, but I assume change was accelerated due to increased accountability requirements. The airlines, airports and other service companies involved are under pressure to know exactly what bags are where at any given time. A suspect package can gnarl up the system enough, but no one wants it to be on their watch that there is a call to find a suspect passengers bags and that is impossible due to a mistake. I'm surprised you noticed a change since 2010, given the sudden bump in security requirements from late 2001 I'd have expected a noticeable change closer to that time. [†] less things falling off conveyors, getting their labels ripped off on the way through, better recording and identifying of bags via QR codes so if something does go the wrong way it can be easily identified and re-re-routed, etc.

habosa 7y ago

I still lose bags a very high percentage of the times that I check them (maybe 20%) so I never check them. It's far from solved.

mantap 7y ago
I'm curious what routes you are flying and what airlines?
ghaff 7y ago
Lose or delayed? I find delayed is probably 10% or more, especially with connecting flights and when weather causes changes. Though I rarely check luggage at all. But I have never permanently lost a bag.