SAN ANTONIO -- Eight million travelers pass through the San Antonio International Airport each year. And during the mad dash to their gates, many of those travelers fumble personal belongings.
Many have done it: forgotten something they wish they hadn't. And by the time they realize it, they're already in the air, flying far far away from San Antonio.
"And I have never found it to this day," says a traveler visiting San Antonio from North Dakota "You can't really do much about it."
Except for talking to airport personnel.
Dozens of personal items are found each day at the San Antonio airport by fellow travelers or airport workers in terminals, restrooms and baggage claim.
Once they come across an item, a bomb-sniffing dog clears it, then an officer places it in the airport’s lost and found.
What ends up at the lost and found?
The top five items in the San Antonio airport's lost and found are cell phones, iPads, laptops, luggage and money.
"There was a large quantity of money, about $25,000 found in a back pack at the airport," said airport spokesman Rich Johnson. "It went unclaimed"
Travelers should always put their names on items of value. That way if it's lost and then found, airport police will contact the traveler and hold the item for the owner to retrieve or even ship it for a fee.
If the lost and found items are not claimed within 90 days, they go to the San Antonio police department, where they will eventually be sold in a city-wide auction alongside seized police items, old city office supplies, even city vehicles.
All the money raised in a city auction goes into the city fund used for police, fire and streets.
