Did you know that in Europe there has long been a developed practice of selling luggage that the owners once lost and did not return for it? 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 customers know what they will get in this suitcase, but, nevertheless, they bargain for the suitcase they like with unknown objects inside.
You can only guess about the stuffing of a suitcase by its outline. For example, in Poland, at such an auction, the starting price was 2.5 euros for a suitcase, but buyers got excited, and the highest bid was about 150 euros for a suitcase with no idea what inside. The average price for a suitcase was about 80 euros. Mostly there were clothes inside, but there were also some 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 trade to the last and receive branded accessories and clothing. Whoever is lucky.
The most popular auctions are in Italy. The inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula are so fond of excitement that they arrange trades there every day from 10 to 16 hours. Sometimes the rates there go up to $ 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 US, auctions are not held. There, all lost suitcases are sent to the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Things eventually end up in the small town of Scottsboro in Alabama. There they are taken apart, cleaned in a specially created laundry and put up for sale.
Sixty percent of the goods are clothing. Counters with it occupy the entire first floor of the store. There are also shelves of books, CD racks, electronics baskets and jewelry display cases. Sports goods occupy an entire department in one section of the store, and a special room contains goods that do not fit into any of the categories.
Of course, items in the Unclaimed Baggage Center are on sale at a huge discount. For example, a lost Versace dress with an original cost of $ 1000 can be bought for as little as $ 55, an Adidas suit for $ 15, an iPad for $ 70, a tube of 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 the loss of luggage are lufthansa Airlines, AirFrance and British Airways.
Luggage auctions are not held in Russia. Airlines believe it is unfair to sell other people's belongings. Therefore, they are always waiting 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 on the regular buses. He brought them to Scottsboro, a town of approximately 15,000, expecting to sell them out within weeks. He was surprised when all the bags were sold out in one day. For Owens, it was just a small business that he did until 1978.
- Now the US Baggage Center covers an entire 15,000 square meter city block and employs 110 workers.
Not expensive.
I thought it was a joke.
I read: Lufthansa is selling unclaimed baggage. I thought it was a fake.
I dug deeper ... O-ba-na ...
Welcome to Kofferauktion24.de
To information
Suitcases offered, luggage space and the things of detection are introduced in order in the EU and are therefore not subject to restrictions on the free movement of goods. From the content, they were next to items of harmful goods and wet parts are prohibited, cash, remotely.
Either suitcases, or items found during a journey, or returning home went lost, we do not know, In accordance with this, the state is from quite decent to maybe less decent, from brought linen or clothes to new ones, everything is possible. If they come from themselves, indicate that everything that can be in the suitcase, nothing is impossible.
At the suitcase auctions, however, there is not only a suitcase, but also found items, for example: Children's cars, cell phones, photography, camcorders, clothing, sun umbrellas, umbrellas, decoration, surprise packages, laptop computers and much more. Please note that found items may also be of international origin.
Her auction house Clesle
Martin Klesle - publicly commissioned and sworn auctioneer
Do you want to participate?
And here's another ...
for reference:
in 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 when passing pre-flight control. “Usually these are cell phones, glasses, belts, keys or watches,” Sergei Martirosyan, an employee of the airport's press service, told NI. “They bring laptops, portable devices, toys from the plane, and once a denture was brought into the unclaimed luggage chamber.”
Employees of another airport terminal in the capital claim that any forgotten thingno matter how expensive it is, it ends up in the unclaimed luggage room. “First of all, this is a security issue. After all, a forgotten thing may turn out to be an explosive device, - the employee of the press service of the Vnukovo airport explained to "NI". - If a travel bag is found, first of all it is checked for explosion hazard. If everything is fine, an act, an inventory is drawn up, and the find is sent to the unclaimed luggage room. "
Each airport has at least two rooms where forgotten and lost things are kept. One stores the "losses" of passengers on domestic flights, the other stores things 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 services of the airports themselves. The air harbor specialists contact the departure airport, clarify the data of the baggage in order to find out who it belongs to, and return it to the owner. With international baggage, the situation is slightly different. Information about him is entered into the World Tracer automated tracing system. After the receipt of the report of the loss, all the information in a special encoding enters a single database, the center of which is located in the United States. From there, the data is sent to all the airports of the planet included in the system, after which they are automatically compared with information about unclaimed baggage, which is entered into the database by airlines from all over the world. If the data of the lost and found luggage matches, it is sent to the owner.
However, such an owner tracing system only works with luggage left in the terminal or on the belt. After registration and passing customs control a special marking is attached to the baggage, which indicates the flight number, point of departure and arrival, information about the owner. It is more difficult if a lady's handbag, other carry-on luggage and small items are lost, the owner of which is almost impossible to establish. Such things will be stored in the unclaimed baggage room until the owner finds himself or until the expiration of the storage period. According to the decree of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, if things were found on board the aircraft, then they will wait for the owners in the storage room for 30 days, after which they will be transferred for storage to the terminal 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 to him. In particular, the Vnukovo press service gives the following example: “Recently, there was a TV filming in one of our terminals. Before entering the sterile zone, the entire film crew went through a mandatory inspection. 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 control. As it turned out later, security officers immediately found the loss and reported it over the speakerphone, however, as often happens with passengers, the journalist simply did not pay attention to this announcement.
But if the owner has not been found, and the storage period at the airport has expired, then forgotten things are disposed of. According to representatives of the airports, such a fate awaits clothes, cosmetics, and even expensive equipment. The only exceptions are 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 shops and second-hand shops. So that everything acquired by back-breaking labor does not burn out in a blue flame, experts advise absent-minded passengers to write their last name, address, telephone number (with city and country codes) legibly and in Latin letters on two tags. One should be attached to the outside of the suitcase, the second should be put on top of things inside. In addition, it is best to remove used luggage tags to avoid confusion.
The procedure for storing forgotten things on railway stations and the trains are slightly different. If the find was found at the station, it is sent to the storage room, where it is kept for 30 days, after which it is disposed of. If the loss is revealed on the train, then it is handed over to the head of the train, who, in turn, transfers it to the storage room at the terminal station. “The only thing that is disposed of right away is the food found in the 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 employees of the locker try to track down 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.
In September, the company “ Turkish Airlines»Will start a sale of lost items. According to Emel Ersenmez Kachar, head of the Istanbul department of the carrier's lost and found bureau, keeping lost and forgotten items at airports and on board aircraft is too expensive. According to the estimates of the Turks, only last year, passengers forgot during the trip and no longer remembered 478 suitcases, 537 wheelchairs, 32 wheelchairs - there are more than 14 thousand different things on the list.
Of course, not only Turkish passengers forget their things on the road. So, only in 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 when passing pre-flight control. “Usually these are cell phones, glasses, belts, keys or watches,” Sergei Martirosyan, an employee of the airport press service, told NI. “They bring laptops, portable devices, toys from the plane, and once a denture was brought into the unclaimed baggage chamber.”
Employees of another airport terminal in the capital claim that any forgotten thing, no matter how expensive it is, ends up in the unclaimed luggage room. “First of all, this is a security issue. After all, a forgotten thing may turn out to be an explosive device, - the employee of the press service of the Vnukovo airport explained to NI. - If a travel bag is found, first of all it is checked for explosion hazard. If everything is fine, an act, an inventory is drawn up, and the find is sent to the unclaimed luggage room. "
Each airport has at least two rooms where forgotten and lost things are kept. One stores the "losses" of passengers on domestic flights, the other stores things 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 services of the airports themselves. The air harbor specialists contact the departure airport, clarify the data of the baggage in order 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 World Tracer automated tracing system. After the receipt of the report of the loss, all the information in a special encoding enters a single database, the center of which is located in the USA. From there, the data is sent to all the airports of the planet included in the system, after which they are automatically compared with information about unclaimed baggage, which is entered into the database by airlines from all over the world. If the data of the lost and found luggage matches, it is sent to the owner.
However, such an owner tracing system only works with luggage left in the terminal or on the belt. After registration and passing customs control, a special marking is attached to the baggage, which indicates the flight number, the point of departure and arrival, and information about the owner. It is more difficult if a lady's handbag, other carry-on luggage and small items are lost, the owner of which is almost impossible to establish. Such things will be kept in the unclaimed baggage room until the owner finds himself or until the expiration date. According to the decree of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, if things were found on board the aircraft, then they will wait for the owners in the storage room for 30 days, after which they will be transferred for storage to the terminal 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 to him. In particular, the Vnukovo press service gives the following example: “Recently, there was a TV filming in one of our terminals. Before entering the sterile zone, the entire film crew went through a mandatory inspection. 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 control. As it turned out later, security officers immediately found the loss and reported it over the speakerphone, however, as often happens with passengers, the journalist simply did not pay attention to this announcement.
But if the owner has not been found, and the storage period at the airport has expired, then the forgotten things are disposed of. According to the representatives of the airports, such a fate awaits clothes, cosmetics, and even expensive equipment. The only exceptions are 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 shops and second-hand shops. So that everything acquired by back-breaking labor does not burn out in a blue flame, experts advise absent-minded passengers to write their last name, address, telephone number (with city and country codes) legibly and in Latin letters on two tags. One should be attached to the outside of the suitcase, the second should be put on top of things inside. In addition, it is best to remove used luggage tags to avoid confusion.
The procedure for keeping forgotten items at railway stations and on trains is slightly different. If the find was found at the station, it is sent to the storage room, where it is kept for 30 days, after which it is disposed of. If the loss is revealed on the train, then it is handed over to the head of the train, who, in turn, transfers it to the storage room at the terminal station. “The only thing that is disposed of immediately is food products found in the 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 luggage office staff try to track down the owners if there is at least some contact information. "
Forgotten things are kept in hotels for three months. "If during this period the owner has not contacted us for the loss, the finds are disposed of," Natalya Yegorova, head of the department for the maintenance of the Izmailovo hotel, told NI.
We add that the number of forgetful passengers and guests of hotels has remained unchanged over the years, say the keepers of unclaimed things.
According to the rules of the International Air Transport Association, lost items at the airport are sent to the auction lost baggage... First, suitcases are handed over for special storage (for a maximum of 2 years). If, within the specified period, the owner does not return for his belongings, suitcases and bags are disposed of or given up for auction.
Lost baggage auction
The latter practice is widespread in the United States and. The lot is not unpacked, so the buyer does not know anything about the contents of the suitcase. It is possible, by pure chance, to buy expensive things, electronics and travel souvenirs.
There are many ways to return things to the rightful owner, but they don't always work, and it is less profitable and pitiful to destroy bags. Before becoming lots at the auction, suitcases go through a certain identification procedure.
When passengers check in, a tag is attached to their luggage with information about the owner, points of departure and arrival. For various reasons, the sticker can be torn off, mixed up or damaged to such a state that the data cannot be read. In most cases, the passengers themselves find the loss during the day. There are some that can reduce the risk of losing your luggage.
If the bag or suitcase has been left unattended for more than 24 hours, a luggage detective will take care of it. It is the responsibility of this person to describe the loss and launch the obtained 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 inactivity, the bags are opened in storage. Baggage detective describes all the contents and launches information about things into the aforementioned database.
If the suitcase is not found according to this information, it will be sent to the auction.
Every year in the world 80 thousand bags and suitcases are lost. Airlines can give baggage to the auction in 3 months, despite the 2 years established by international rules. As a rule, tenders are held directly at the airport. Suitcases are never unpacked.
Items prohibited for carriage are seized, as well as food. The purchased things are often left to themselves, but there are people who are trying to find the owners of the lost bags on their own. The most famous of these people is the Englishwoman Luna Labu.
Lost air baggage is auctioned off in Germany
Some buyers are driven by intrigue, some are driven by the desire to buy things for family and friends, because for 80 euros you can buy a Chanel dress and shoes. The lufthansa auction starts at an average of 10 euros and the final price is unpredictable.
Lost baggage shop in Scottsboro
According to statistics, the leaders in the loss of luggage are large European airlines: Lufthansa, AirFrance and BritishAirways. At the Kansai airport in the Japanese city of Osaka, not a single bag has been lost since 1994.
Many have heard about the auction of lost luggage, what is it? Auction - means the sale at auction of any item, that is, a lot. This means that the auction of lost luggage is the process of selling at auction those things and suitcases that people did not take, lost, forgot during the flight.
Where is the lost baggage auction held?
All bags that, for whatever reason, were not returned to their owners, are sent to the Lost Luggage Center in the United States, located in Alabama. This is a huge warehouse, where about a million bags, suitcases and other types of lost luggage go through each year.
Lost baggage auction
Auctions are held either at the headquarters in the Lost Luggage Center, where they sell cheap sports equipment, suits, suitcases, and so on. Or the airline itself holds auctions. For example, one Spanish airline put up for auction those items that passengers forgot in the cabin of the plane and, accordingly, did not return for them. They put up for auction: gloves, scarves, books, hats, mobile phones, gold, umbrellas and so on.
What can be purchased at such an auction?
Some airlines conduct auctions for unpacked suitcases. The most interesting thing is that neither the airline employees nor the customers know what they will get in this suitcase, but nevertheless they bargain for the suitcase they like with unknown items inside. You can only guess about the stuffing of a suitcase by its outline. For example, in Poland, at such an auction, the starting price was 2.5 euros for a suitcase, but buyers got excited, and the highest bid was about 150 euros for a suitcase with no idea what inside. On average, the price for a suitcase was around 80 euros. Mostly, there were clothes inside, but there were also some equipment: laptops, tablets, cell phones, digital cameras.
1.
The airline is obliged to keep the lost luggage for 2 years, if during this time the owner does not take the luggage, the airline can dispose of it.
2. There are lost luggage stores, which gained wide popularity due to the fact that Oprah Winfield, a famous American TV presenter, mentioned these stores in her popular talk show.
3. About 7000 lost suitcases are added to the Lost Baggage Center every day.
4. At the Lost Baggage Center, you can buy goods with a 50-70 percent discount, for example, a Versace dress worth $ 1000, where you can buy it for 50 US rubles.
5. The area of \u200b\u200bthe Lost Baggage Center is 15,000 square meters, imagine how huge it is!
7. One guy bought a suitcase at an auction, inside it was: MacBook, iPad, Nikon camera, cell phone, tablet. The suitcase cost him only $ 200.
