From lost to found

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 10th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Lost Luggage!’

Two words that can spark instant stress, even for the most seasoned traveler.

In 2023, nearly three million checked bags went missing, got damaged, delayed, or stolen on domestic flights. World wide? Ten times that.

BROWN: And during peak travel seasons like the one we’re in now, the odds get even worse.

So, how do you avoid ending up empty handed at the luggage carousel? And where do those unclaimed bags eventually end up?

SOUND: [Wheels of luggage on pavement]

When you're airport-bound, three questions often scream louder than the wheels on your luggage: How long will I have to stand in line? Did I overpack? And will my luggage make it to my destination? Brittany Cody Hernandez has been there. The year was 2013.

HERNANDEZ: I flew in from Houston and it was a very late flight. And it said that my luggage was here but nobody’s luggage was here. And they ended up driving my luggage to my apartment the next morning. Everything was there. It just wasn’t there when I wanted it to be.

The 34-year-old is a wife and mother of three.

HERNANDEZ: All under ten…yes ma’am. [giggles]

While her kids are in school Hernandez also works as an independent travel advisor.

HERNANDEZ: I help people with travel from beginning to end.

AUDIO: I appreciate y’all taking the time to hop on…

Every Thursday her two worlds intersect in a chat with an online group she started with moms from around the country. She’s sitting on a bench outside the Pensacola International airport in Florida. You can hear planes arriving and departing in the distance. Today’s topic: making your bags stand out so that they are easier to find and identify if lost.

AUDIO: (Facebook Live call) I usually have a lot of ribbons. Oh you use a black suitcase but you wrap it in ribbons? I like that. Ok. Ribbons! I brought my polka dot colored bag. That’s always a standout.

But most bags get lost due to a lack of identification. The Department of Transportation encourages travelers to label luggage…inside and out, with your name and number, as well as the contact information of someone at your destination.

AUDIO: (Facebook Live call) I hope you have a great rest of the afternoon…

Hernandez has one more tip before she ends her call.

HERNANDEZ: Make sure you get a picture of your luggage, what it looks like. If there’s something specific in there you know is costly, make sure you get a picture of it so if it is lost you’ll be able to have some type of photo or information on it so they can track it and know that it’s yours.

The tag airlines attach to the handle of your suitcase has tracking technology that gets your luggage to the right place at the right time…most of the time. But if the system fails or if human error is involved after a three-month extensive search, your luggage and its contents could end up in Scottsboro, Alabama, a little town in the northeast corner of the state.

OWENS: We have tractor trailer loads of bags that come through. Every week it’s packed to the gills.

That’s Bryan Owens, CEO of Unclaimed Baggage, a family-owned business that repurposes lost luggage. His father Doyle Owens started the company in 1970. He overheard a group of bus drivers complaining about unclaimed bags left on their buses.

OWENS: And one guy said, I don’t know what to do with them. And that was the eureka that my dad had. And so he borrowed $300 from one of my grandfathers and bought a 1965 Chevy pick up truck from my other grandfather and went off and bought his first load of bags.

Owens says he was in sixth grade when his dad purchased those bags from the buslines and brought them home to resell them.

OWENS: The guys in the family, we unloaded the trucks and helped open bags up. And my parents would put prices on things. And we had a little makeshift store that we started out with.

In 1978, the older Owens started landing contracts with domestic airlines. Today, Owens says his company is the country’s only lost luggage retailer.

SOUND: [Bag unzipping]

Everyday, teams of bag openers unpack, sift and sort through countless suitcases from airports around the country. In 2023 workers uncovered more than two million items: clothing that has to be laundered and dry cleaned, electronics that are tested and cleared of personal data, and jewelry that’s cleaned and appraised.

About one third of those items are sold in the 50,000 square foot retail store. Items that are not salvageable are recycled. Then there are those fascinating finds. In 2023 those included two live snakes, a jar full of shark teeth and a mounted ram head.

OWENS: We say that when you open a bag, it’s a bit like an archaeological dig. I vicariously in some ways learn a lot about the world through the lens of an unclaimed suitcase.

Owens says he hopes the world can learn a few things from his father. In 1995, Owens launched a charitable arm of the company that invites local students and volunteers to decorate found luggage. Then, the charity delivers the brightly-colored, hand-painted suitcases to children in foster homes. The once lost, now personalized luggage replaces the garbage bags many foster kids use to transport their belongings.

OWENS: We think about it from a redemption point of view. Our purpose is to redeem the lost, unclaimed and rejected for the glory of God.

Reporting WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Pensacola, Florida, with reporting in Scottsboro, Alabama.

SOUND: [Luggage unpacking sounds]

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