Los Angeles international Airport may be an impossible experience on the ground these days, with construction and realignment all over and most pick-ups banished from curbside to a shuttle lot, but your chances of recovering anything you lose in the confusion are better than ever.
The airport logs thousands of laptops, belts, wallets and more left behind, frequently at the TSA checkpoints. The monthly haul of five to seven thousand items is stored by the LAX Police, whose warehouse holds up to 30,000 items at a time. Until recently, there was no central way of looking for items or filing a claim.
But now, through the FlyLAX website, losers can search an online database for items, some of which have photos, and file a claim online. And, in a big step forward, TSA has partnered with the airport to handle items left with them, so it’s no longer necessary to check at several different places (unless you’ve left your stuff on the plane or in a rental car).
But, you still need to get on the stick: anything not claimed within 90 days goes to the city’s auction site, or is donated to charitable organizations.
