An inside look at MSP Airport's lost and found office
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nancy Fortier has found a lot in her 11 years at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport's lost and found office. She spent the previous 35 years at Northwest then Delta Airlines doing the same thing.
"On this side is anything that anyone has left behind at the TSA checkpoints, and it's in date order. On this side are items that we find in the airport at a gate, at a restaurant, at a terminal," Fortier said.
And that's just jackets. There's also laptops, iPads, phones and headphones.
There are belts, there are shoes, there are canes and pillows for the plane. People have also turned in a tea kettle, a walker, CPAP machines and a gorilla costume.
"And no one has been looking for him yet," Fortier said.
There's a science to it all — everything gets a barcode and a description. The phones get charged, with chargers also left behind in case the owner calls. They have bins that are the daily dose from TSA — an easy way to find something if a passenger mentions the date of their travel.
The items stay on the shelves for 30 days, then they're offered to charities.
It's stressful enough to travel, but Fortier will do her best to make sure this stuff gets home.
"Everything is important to whoever is inquiring here. They want their property back, and we just have a team of people that work here that want to get it back for them. It's very rewarding," Fortier said.
The Lost and Found office is open every day of the year from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If you think you left something behind on a plane or in an airline club, the airline handles those claims separately.
