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USA: The New York Times > Business > Lost Luggage Is Rare, but the Trauma Can Be Acute: “For passengers who wonder where vanished luggage goes, the answer is often Scottsboro, Ala., home of the Unclaimed Baggage Center, a store that buys unclaimed bags from airlines and sells their contents to the public. Begun in 1970 by Doyle and Sue Owens on card tables stocked with lost luggage from Greyhound buses, the center has grown into one of Alabama’s biggest tourist attractions, selling more than a million lost luggage and cargo items each year. Some of the more interesting objects that the company has seen include artificial limbs, a 40.95-carat emerald, a United States Navy guidance system for a F-16 fighter jet (which was returned to the government), a suit of armor, mummified Egyptian artifacts from 1,500 B.C. and a Barbie doll whose head fell off to reveal $500 in bills stashed inside the body.”

US: From CNN: From an estimated 250 to 300 million pieces of luggage, the TSA “has paid almost $39,000 to settle about 485 claims [of lost, stolen or damaged luggage]. About 145 were denied, and 47 were withdrawn. The rest of the complaints — more than 6,000 — are pending.” TSA and the airlines are still determining who was responsible in some cases.
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