How do I carry baggage or carry-on luggage in accordance with Lufthansa rules and regulations? When will you have to pay for the cargo and what will Lufthansa cost? Sale of lost items Auction of forgotten items at the airport
In September, Turkish Airlines will launch a sale of lost items. According to Emel Ersenmez Cacar, head of the carrier's Istanbul Lost and Found office, storing lost and forgotten items at airports and on airplanes is too expensive. According to Turks, last year alone, passengers forgot and no longer remembered 478 suitcases, 537 strollers, 32 wheelchairs during travel - a total of more than 14 thousand different things on the list.
Of course, it is not only Turkish passengers who forget their things on the road. Thus, at the capital’s Domodedovo airport alone, about 10 thousand orphan items are found annually, or about 900 per month. Most often these are all sorts of little things that are placed in special trays during pre-flight control. “Usually these are cell phones, glasses, belts, keys or watches,” Sergei Martirosyan, an employee of the airport press service, told NI. “Laptops, portable devices, toys are brought from the plane, and once a false jaw was brought into the unclaimed baggage area.”
Employees of another airport in the capital claim that any forgotten item, no matter how expensive, ends up in the unclaimed baggage room. “First of all, this is a safety issue. After all, a forgotten thing could turn out to be an explosive device,” an employee of the press service of Vnukovo Airport explained to NI. – If a travel bag is found, first of all it is checked for explosiveness. If everything is fine, an act and an inventory are drawn up, and the find is sent to the unclaimed baggage room.”
Every airport has at least two rooms where forgotten and lost items are kept. One stores the “losses” of passengers on domestic flights, the other stores items found in terminals and on board international flights. This division is not accidental. The fact is that the search for the owners of things flying within the country is carried out by the airport services themselves. Air harbor specialists contact the departure airport, check the luggage details to find out who it belongs to, and return it to the owner. The situation with international baggage is slightly different. Information about him is entered into the automated search system World Tracer. After receiving a missing person’s report, all information in special encoding enters a single database, the center of which is located in the United States. From there, the data is sent to all airports on the planet included in the system, after which it is automatically compared with information about unclaimed baggage, which is entered into the database by airlines from around the world. If the data of the lost and found luggage matches, it is sent to the owner.
However, such a system for tracing the owner only works with luggage forgotten in the terminal or on the belt. After registration and customs control, a special marking is attached to the luggage, indicating the flight number, point of departure and arrival, and information about the owner. It is more difficult if a handbag, other hand luggage and small items are lost, the owner of which is almost impossible to identify. Such items will be stored in the unclaimed baggage area until the owner is found or until the storage period expires. According to the decree of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, if things were found on board the plane, they will wait for the owners for 30 days in a storage room, after which they will be transferred to the terminal for storage for six months. The same storage period is provided for unclaimed baggage.
According to airport employees, they are doing everything possible to find the owner and return the lost property to him. In particular, the Vnukovo press service gives the following example: “Recently, television filming took place in one of our terminals. Before entering the sterile area, the entire film crew underwent mandatory screening. There, the journalist, without noticing it, forgot his passport. In the midst of the filming process, his wife called him and said that his passport was waiting for him at the control. As it turned out later, security officers immediately found the loss and reported it over the loudspeaker, however, as often happens with passengers, the journalist simply did not pay attention to this announcement.”
But if the owner is never found, and the storage period at the airport has expired, then the forgotten items are disposed of. According to airport representatives, a similar fate awaits clothing, cosmetics, and even expensive equipment. The only exception is new items with a tag - they are “subject to sale in accordance with the procedure established by law,” or rather, they will find new owners in second-hand stores and thrift stores. To prevent everything acquired through back-breaking labor from going up in flames, experts advise absent-minded passengers to write their name, address, telephone number (with city and country code) legibly and in Latin letters on two tags. One should be attached to the outside of the suitcase, the second should be placed on top of the things inside. In addition, it is better to remove used luggage tags to avoid confusion.
The procedure for storing forgotten items at railway stations and on trains is slightly different. If a find is found at the station, it is sent to a storage room, where it remains for 30 days, after which it is disposed of. If the loss is discovered on the train, it is handed over to the head of the train, who, in turn, transfers it to the storage room at the final station. “The only thing that is disposed of immediately is food found in luggage,” Olga Vnukovskaya, an employee of the Russian Railways press service, told NI. – But, as practice shows, most often passengers lose documents, phones and laptops. Naturally, the storage room employees are trying to find the owners if there is at least some contact information.”
In hotels, forgotten items are stored for three months. “If during this period the owner does not contact us about the loss, the finds are disposed of,” Natalya Egorova, head of the department for maintaining the rooms at the Izmailovo Hotel, told NI.
Let us add that the number of forgetful passengers and hotel guests remains unchanged over the years, say keepers of unclaimed items.
Those who fly often will definitely understand us: every time we have to check in a suitcase, our hearts bleed. That’s why airlines lose suitcases with enviable regularity, without much worry or even apology. The first time this happened to Nastya, who was flying on Airberlin from Warsaw to Helsinki. Since girls value what’s in their suitcases much more, Nastya will talk about it. So, I found myself at the Helsinki airport with a laptop, documents and money, in shorts and a T-shirt, and without a suitcase. I hypnotized the tape with my eyes for a long time, but he never appeared. It was on the eve of a conference in Finland (where you can’t go in shorts), and all the best dresses bought at the June sales in Europe were languishing in the suitcase. In short, I was not at all prepared for such a turn of events. The suitcase was delivered to the hotel 2 days later, and they also compensated me for what I spent on basic needs (dress and toothbrush). But there’s still a residue, so if possible I don’t check in my suitcase. The worst thing, however, was in the USA, where my suitcase was actually lost every second time. This also happened because, even if the suitcase is small (of course, hand luggage), they take it away at the gate, saying that the luggage compartments on the plane are small, don’t worry, you’ll get it at the place of arrival. No amount of exhortation or crying about already lost (although later found) suitcases helps, and upon arrival the suitcase is not found again. As a rule, it is brought home on the same day or the next (strange, but it seems to be easier and cheaper for them to arrange courier delivery than to organize the normal movement of luggage). But during this time you have enough time to suffer and suffer for what was in the suitcase. According to my observations, this does not depend on the airline; all American airlines on which we flew do this, which causes real inconvenience. For example, our friends were going on a hike and flew to Utah for this, as they thought, with suitcases full of hiking equipment. However, the suitcases did not arrive with them, they were delivered only a few days later, and all this time the friends could not go on a hike, thus losing a lot of time.
I have always wondered (even though I thought about it with horror) what happens to suitcases that never find their owners. After all, it is very easy for them to get lost forever: there are so many identical black suitcases that are not even labeled, and even if you climb inside, there will not always be anything identifying the owner. So, such suitcases end up in... Scottsboro. In this Alabama town there is the so-called Unclaimed Baggage Center - a huge store selling what could have gone missing from your suitcase.
At the entrance to the store there is a small impromptu museum of unusual things that never found their owners. 
Among them are silverware decorated with figures of the apostles, an ancient Russian icon, a Jewish prayer book, a fairly old Polish baptismal medallion, sets from famous films - in short, things that were clearly no less dear to their owners than to me - dresses.
Well, quotes from the “greats” about how extraordinary the store itself is. 
How and why do our precious things get there?
According to the store's official website, 99.5% of checked-in suitcases on domestic airlines reach their owners immediately upon arrival (a lie!). 0.5-1% of suitcases do not arrive with passengers, but within 5 days 95% of them find their way to the owner. Another half of the remaining suitcases are within 3 months. And only those suitcases that remain abandoned end up in this center, which has a contract with several airline and bus companies. Often things are terribly dirty, wrinkled, wet, so the staff puts them in order. I must say that there are a lot of staff there (not surprising, since there are also a lot of customers) and they are very polite. The equipment that comes here is tested, and the personal data of the former owner is erased (instead of finding him using them). Price tags are posted.
Of course, some things never make it to the shelves, and here the staff seems to have seen enough of everything (on the website they write that they even found a rattlesnake).
The store, as always in America, is a success story (on other people's things - *sniffles). In 1970, insurer Doyle Ovens, borrowing a truck and $300, first bought loose luggage from a bus company. His idea became an immediate success. In 1974, he already entered into a contract with one of the largest airlines (demand exceeded supply!). Among other things, what made them successful were unexpected finds, such as Egyptian artifacts dating back to 1500 BC, which were later sold at Christie's. Or a 5.8 carat diamond ring. It is not surprising that the business became a family affair and was increasingly promoted, for example, through television shows. Over time, lost or undeclared cargo of legal entities also begins to be sold. More than a million people visit the store every year.
It is no coincidence that prices there are higher than in a regular (even super-vintage) second-hand store. 
The store has everything: wedding dresses – 
Assorted ethnic clothing: 
iPads and a bunch of other equipment: 
This is all, not to mention the simply huge departments of women's, men's and children's clothing.
In the vicinity of this center there are small “catch-up” shops, of course incomparable in scale: 
In short, if you don’t want your things to be rummaged through, touched, washed, and then sold for huge sums of money, take care of your suitcases. And definitely never put anything that is dear to you there.
And, finally and for edification, a donkey, sad for its owners.
Not expensive.
I thought it was a joke.
Reading: Lufthansa is selling unclaimed luggage. Thought it was fake.
Digged deeper... O-ba-na...
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To information
The proposed suitcases, pieces of luggage and items of discovery are introduced according to the rules in the EU and are therefore not subject to restrictions for the free movement of goods. From the contents they were close to the items harmful goods and wet parts are prohibited, cash, remotely.
Either suitcases, or objects found during a trip, or returning home were lost, we don’t know. In accordance with this, the condition ranges from quite decent to maybe less decent, from brought linen or clothes to new ones, everything is possible. If you start from yourself, point out everything that can be in the suitcase, nothing is impossible.
With suitcase auctions, however, there is not only a suitcase, but also found items, for example: Children's cars, mobile phones, photographs, video cameras, clothing, parasols, umbrellas, jewelry, surprise packages, laptop computers and much more. Please note that the items found may also be of international origin.
Her auction house is Clesle
Martin Klesle - publicly commissioned and sworn auctioneer
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for reference:
At the capital's Domodedovo airport, about 10 thousand orphan items are found annually, or about 900 per month. Most often these are all sorts of little things that are placed in special trays during pre-flight control. “Usually these are cell phones, glasses, belts, keys or watches,” Sergei Martirosyan, an employee of the airport press service, told NI. “Laptops, portable devices, toys are brought from the plane, and once a false jaw was brought into the unclaimed baggage area.”
Employees of another airport in the capital claim that any forgotten item, no matter how expensive, ends up in the unclaimed baggage room. “First of all, this is a safety issue. After all, a forgotten item could turn out to be an explosive device,” an employee of the press service of Vnukovo Airport explained to NI. - If a travel bag is found, first of all it is checked for explosiveness. If everything is fine, an act and an inventory are drawn up, and the find is sent to the unclaimed baggage room.”
Every airport has at least two rooms where forgotten and lost items are kept. One stores the “losses” of passengers on domestic flights, the other stores items found in terminals and on board international flights. This division is not accidental. The fact is that the search for the owners of things flying within the country is carried out by the airport services themselves. Air harbor specialists contact the departure airport, check the luggage details to find out who it belongs to, and return it to the owner. The situation with international baggage is slightly different. Information about him is entered into the automated search system World Tracer. After receiving a missing person’s report, all information in special encoding enters a single database, the center of which is located in the United States. From there, the data is sent to all airports on the planet included in the system, after which it is automatically compared with information about unclaimed baggage, which is entered into the database by airlines from around the world. If the data of the lost and found luggage matches, it is sent to the owner.
However, such a system for tracing the owner only works with luggage forgotten in the terminal or on the belt. After registration and customs control, a special marking is attached to the luggage, indicating the flight number, point of departure and arrival, and information about the owner. It is more difficult if a handbag, other hand luggage and small items are lost, the owner of which is almost impossible to identify. Such items will be stored in the unclaimed baggage area until the owner is found or until the storage period expires. According to the decree of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, if things were found on board the plane, they will wait for the owners for 30 days in a storage room, after which they will be transferred to the terminal for storage for six months. The same storage period is provided for unclaimed baggage.
According to airport employees, they are doing everything possible to find the owner and return the lost property to him. In particular, the Vnukovo press service gives the following example: “Recently, television filming took place in one of our terminals. Before entering the sterile area, the entire film crew underwent mandatory screening. There, the journalist, without noticing it, forgot his passport. In the midst of the filming process, his wife called him and said that his passport was waiting for him at the control. As it turned out later, security officers immediately found the loss and reported it over the loudspeaker, however, as often happens with passengers, the journalist simply did not pay attention to this announcement.”
But if the owner is never found, and the storage period at the airport has expired, then the forgotten items are disposed of. According to airport representatives, a similar fate awaits clothing, cosmetics, and even expensive equipment. The only exception is new items with a tag - they are “subject to sale in accordance with the procedure established by law,” or rather, they will find new owners in second-hand stores and thrift stores. To prevent everything acquired through back-breaking labor from going up in flames, experts advise absent-minded passengers to write their name, address, telephone number (with city and country code) legibly and in Latin letters on two tags. One should be attached to the outside of the suitcase, the second should be placed on top of the things inside. In addition, it is better to remove used luggage tags to avoid confusion.
The procedure for storing forgotten items at railway stations and on trains is slightly different. If a find is found at the station, it is sent to a storage room, where it remains for 30 days, after which it is disposed of. If the loss is discovered on the train, it is handed over to the head of the train, who, in turn, transfers it to the storage room at the final station. “The only thing that is disposed of immediately is food found in luggage,” Olga Vnukovskaya, an employee of the Russian Railways press service, told NI. - But, as practice shows, most often passengers lose documents, phones and laptops. Naturally, the storage room employees are trying to find the owners if there is at least some contact information.” (http://www.newizv.ru/society/2011-08-26/150168-rasprodazha-propazh.html)
For those who are especially curious, there is a video on how to open a suitcase without opening the lock.
According to International Air Transport Association rules, lost items at the airport are sent to a lost baggage auction. First, the suitcases are handed over for special storage (for a maximum of 2 years). If the owner does not return for his belongings within the designated period, the suitcases and bags are disposed of or auctioned.
Lost luggage auction
The latter practice is widespread in the USA and. The lot is not unpacked, so the buyer knows nothing about the contents of the suitcase. You can, by pure chance, buy expensive things, electronics and souvenirs from your trip.
There are many ways to return things to the rightful owner, but they do not always work, and destroying bags is less profitable and a pity. Before becoming auction lots, suitcases undergo a certain identification procedure.
When passengers check in, a tag is affixed to their luggage with information about the owner, points of departure and arrival. For various reasons, the sticker may be torn off, mixed up, or damaged to such a state that the data cannot be read. In most cases, the loss is found by the passengers themselves within 24 hours. There are some rules that, if followed, can reduce the risk of baggage loss.
If a bag or suitcase remains ownerless for more than 24 hours, they are dealt with by a luggage detective. This person’s responsibility includes describing the loss and running the resulting parameters (color, size and special features) into the worldwide database of missing luggage. The base sends information to all airports in the world, and in any air harbor the owner can find out about a lost suitcase.
After 5 days of idleness of the bag in storage, it is opened. The luggage detective describes all the contents and runs information about the items into the aforementioned database.
If, based on this information, the suitcase is not found, it will be sent to auction.
Every year, 80 thousand bags and suitcases are lost around the world. Airlines can auction luggage in as little as 3 months, despite the 2 years established by international rules. As a rule, auctions are held right at the airport. Suitcases are never unpacked.
Items prohibited for transportation are confiscated, as well as food. Purchased items are most often kept for themselves, but there are people who independently try to find the owners of lost bags. The most famous of these people is the Englishwoman Luna Labou.
Lost airline luggage going under the hammer in Germany
Some buyers are driven by intrigue, some by the desire to buy things for family and friends, because for 80 euros you can buy a Chanel dress and shoes. Lufthansa auction bids start at an average of 10 euros, and the final price is unpredictable.
Lost Luggage Store in Scottsboro
According to statistics, the leaders in baggage loss are major European airlines: Lufthansa, AirFrance and British Airways. At Kansai Airport in Osaka, Japan, not a single bag has been lost since 1994.
Did you know that in Europe the practice of selling luggage that the owners once lost and never returned for has been developed for a long time? Airlines store other people's suitcases for two years and then simply put them up for auction. The most interesting thing is that neither the airline employees nor the buyers know what they will get in this suitcase, but, nevertheless, they bargain for the suitcase they like with unknown items inside.
You can guess the contents of the suitcase only by its outline. For example, in Poland at such an auction the starting price was 2.5 euros per suitcase, but buyers got excited, and the highest bid was about 150 euros for a suitcase with no one knows what inside. The average price per suitcase was about 80 euros. Mostly there was clothing inside, but there was also equipment: laptops, tablets, cell phones, digital cameras. Auctions are always a lot of fun, because sometimes people pay a lot of money for completely unnecessary things. And some bargain until the last minute and get branded accessories and clothes. Who's lucky?
Auctions are most popular in Italy. Residents of the Apennine Peninsula love excitement so much that trading is held there every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sometimes the rates there reach as much as $500! The starting cost of a suitcase is on average 75 euros.
In Germany, auctions are held only 20 times a year, but the event turns into a real celebration. There the starting cost is about 10 euros.
And in the USA they don't hold auctions. There, all lost suitcases are sent to the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Things eventually end up in the small town of Scottsboro, Alabama. There they are dismantled, cleaned in a specially created laundry room and put up for sale.
Sixty percent of products are clothing. Counters with it occupy the entire first floor of the store. There are also bookshelves, CD racks, electronics bins and jewelry displays. Sporting goods occupy an entire section in one area of the store, and in a special room there is an item that does not fall into any of the categories.
Of course, items at the Unclaimed Baggage Center are sold at a huge discount. For example, a lost Versace dress originally valued at $1,000 can be bought for just $55, an Adidas suit for $15, an iPad for $70, a tube of slightly used Japanese toothpaste for 50 cents, a sapphire for $15,000, and a diamond bracelet - for $7,500, gold wedding rings and pearl necklaces - for half their face value. More than a million customers come to the store every year.
According to statistics, the leaders in lost luggage are Lufthansa, AirFrance and British Airways.
In Russia, auctions for the sale of luggage are not held. Airlines think it's unfair to sell other people's stuff. That's why they always wait for their owners.
- It all started in 1970, when an insurance agent named Doyle Owens borrowed $300 and a pickup truck and bought about a hundred bags left behind on buses. He brought them to Scottsboro, a city of about 15,000 residents, expecting to sell out within weeks. He was surprised when all the bags sold out in one day. For Owens, it was just a small business, which he was engaged in until 1978.
- Now the US Baggage Center occupies an entire city block with an area of 15,000 square meters and employs 110 workers.