Ever since 9/11, airports around the world have imposed very strict guidelines on what passengers can carry on board the aircraft. Currently, the limit for carry-on liquids is 100ml. Apparently, even if the contents are 100ml but the containers are large, these will not be allowed and oftentimes, people make this mistake. The type of zip-lock bags are also prescribed. Passengers often make on error of judgement of another and they will have to leave gels, perfumes, aerosols, and other liquids behind. Add these to the already prohibited items (knives, golf clubs, objects with sharp edges) as well as excess baggage that passengers do not want to pay for, passengers can actually leave a lot of stuff behind collectively. Have you ever wondered what happens to these things? I do hope that airports around the world have a systematic way of disposing these items and not have airport staff "share the spoils". Anyway, here are the types of things and passengers would mostly leave behind.
3 General Categories of Left-Behind Items
Lost Items (unclaimed)
Excess luggage
Prohibited items
I think that an airport can actually create several options for passengers who inadvertently or unintentionally leave luggage or items behind. Some of these options can be revenue-generating or even charitable.
Mail To: Destination or Origin
The airport can put "drop-boxes" near check-in Areas where they can have the option to either A) Mail the items to their home address or B) Mail it to an address in the same city or state as the airport (i.e. send the stuff to their friends or relatives whom they have just visited) – definitely the cheaper option. The size of the packages can range from small packets to medium-sized boxes and rates vary accordingly (weight, destination of the package). Of course the courier would cost more than the average as the airport should be making a cut. The airport can then tie-up with courier companies to execute the deliveries. If they can get a discount from the courier companies (seeing that the courier companies don't have to transport the packages from point X to the airport as the items are already in the airport), this would even increase the airport's margins.
Auction Off/Sell: Person Gets Proceeds/Airport Gets A Cut
This is most applicable to items that are unintentionally left behind my passengers (unclaimed lost items). Firstly, the airport should make known that it has a policy that items unclaimed for 6 months will be auctioned off or sold via a special store inside the airport itself, at discounted prices of course! In the case of lost items, the airport will get 100% of the proceeds. Alternatively, if people would rather sell their excess luggage or items that cannot be taken on board the plane than mail them, they can fill out a form with their bank details so that when their items get sold, they will get part of the proceeds (maybe 75%?). The airport of course gets a cut as well, for "facilitating" the sale.
Donate To: Selected Charity
Lastly, passengers can opt to just donate their stuff to charity (especially if what's left behind are clothes, toiletries or even in some instances, food) by simply ticking a box on a donation form and affixing their signature. In fact, if the airport management has such charitable spirit, they can actually scrap option 2 above and just donate everything to charity.
A lot of strong ethical values and good management is needed to implement the schemes above but if these are successful, airports can get additional cash flow and better yet, can donate even more to charity! 3
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