Have your keys? Phone? Umbrella? A look at lost and found in airports, train stations

Did you forget something?

Got your wallet, purse, phone or diaper bag? Lose a glove? Credit card missing? Where’s your laptop?

If you were a traveler or explorer in the city over the holidays, you may have had unfortunate moments of absent-mindedness and are now a bag lighter and shielded against the cold by only one mitten. That’s why we recently asked local attractions, airports and transportation hubs to describe what items can commonly be found in their lost and found areas. And, more important, how to retrieve those items.
At the airports


1,600

Number of laptops left at O’Hare International Airport checkpoints in 2015; Midway Airport reported 350 left behind.

An item left behind at the airport can be tricky to recover, because any number of entities could be responsible for handling a lost and found item.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman Michael McCarthy says a passenger can’t make enough calls to track down a lost item. “If a passenger misplaces an item but cannot recall where it was misplaced they should try to contact every entity from the hotel to the taxicab to the TSA to the airline,” he said recently in an email.

McCarthy notes that the most common items found at security checkpoints are laptops, driver’s licenses or other forms of identification, keys and clothing (type depending on the season).

“The best thing a passenger can do is to tape their contact information or a business card to their laptop or tablet. This greatly increases (their) chances of recovering an item as we can attempt to call the individual.”
— McCarthy, on how to prepare items for the TSA screening process

Chicago Union Station: 312-322-4269.
For BNSF, Heritage Corridor, SouthWest Service, Milwaukee North, Milwaukee West and North Central Service lines.
Ogilvie Transportation Center: 312-496-4751.
For all Union Pacific lines.
LaSalle Street Station: 312-322-8957.
For Rock Island Line.
Millennium Station: Chicago Transit Authority

4

Number of bikes in the lost and found at the Chicago Avenue bus garage as of January.

When you are responsible for transporting more than 1.5 million people each day by bus and rail, then it’s common for things to get left behind, says CTA spokeskman Jeff Tolman. He notes that these items, however, vary by the mode of transportation. Bikes and groceries are left behind on buses, while riders in rail cars tend to leave Ventra cards, clothing, cellphones and umbrellas.

Nonperishable items are logged and held in terminals and bus stations designated by their routes. Depending on where an item is found, it could be first transported to an overnight storage area.

Unusual items that have been found include enough instruments to start a band — including a trombone, clarinet, saxophone, drumstick sets and flute. Once an urn with ashes was found, but it was quickly reunited with its owner. Tolman also pointed to an Associated Press story from May 1975, which reports that a parakeet was found in a paper bag on a bus. CTA officials fed it, named it “Mike” and kept it for four years before giving it away.

After 30 days: Items are either disposed of or donated.

After 60 days: High-value items, such as cellphones and laptops, are held longer but are then disposed of or donated.
Who to contact

Lost items found on CTA buses or trains or at CTA stations are sent to the bus garages or th specific bus routes, rail lines ong>

21

Number of single gloves or mittens in lost and found as of December.

Public relations director Sharon Dewar notes that not much weird stuff shows up in the zoo’s lost and found. She says the most common items are keys, glasses and single gloves. Valuables are logged and kept in a secured cabinet. Other items recently found include four scarves, three school bags, one set of keys and eight credit or identification cards.

After 30 days:carded or destroyed.
Who

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