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Denver airport goes digital to reunite fliers with lost items

Attention Denver travelers: Are you missing anything?

August 26, 2014

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​In just the past 30 days, passengers traveling to, from or through Denver International Airport – the fifth busiest airport in the United States – have left behind 260 cellphones, 474 pieces of clothing, 72 wallets, 307 IDs and passports, 107 laptops and 191 suitcases and bags in the public areas.

During 2013, passengers left behind 43,582 items in the airport's public areas.

As is the case in many other cities, under Denver's municipal code, DIA only holds onto personal property for 30 days. After that, it's put up for auction, donated to charity, or disposed of by the General Services city surplus warehouse.

Airport officials would rather reunite passengers with their lost items, so DIA has followed the lead of other airports and instituted a new digital claim system to allow passengers to file claims online and help the airport better catalog, cross-check and, hopefully, return the tens of thousands of lost items turned in each year.

"From teddy bears and wedding rings to laptops and iPads, we know that every lost item is important to our travelers," said John Ackerman, DIA's chief commercial officer in a statement. "We want to return as many lost items as possible."

In the past, passengers who thought they'd lost something in the public areas of DIA were told to call or e-mail the airport's Lost and Found office to file a claim and to keep checking back to see if the item had been found.

Airport officials say last year that system resulted in 91,000 phone calls and more than 12,000 emails related to the lost items.