PEDIATRICS Vol. 84 No. 6 December 1989, pp. A23
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WHAT DO (AIR) TRAVELERS LOSE? AND WHERE DOES IT ALL GO?

While most items left in hotels go to employees or to charity, items left in airplanes often go to Scottsboro, Ala. There, a few discount outlets have practically cornered the market in selling leftover airline goodies. Salvagers say they pay about $15 to $20 per unexamined bag—and gamble there's a jackpot inside.

"They come up to the back door, load them up and haul them off," says an American Airlines spokeswoman. "There's probably enough good things inside to be worth the risk. Maybe they'll find a pearl necklace in an old pair of shoes."

Mark Owen, vice president of Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, won't say much about what he finds. "Airlines are very sensitive regarding the nature of lost bags," he says. "Can't you just say they go into a black hole and are sold somewhere in America?"