The hunt to reunite passengers with their treasures

By STEVE HART

Ever wondered what happens to the thousands of items found on aircraft every week? Many of the shoes, glasses and watches left on Air New Zealand flights end up in Wellington, where the company's Tim Garland works to track down their owners.

He has been working there for 12 years and has seen everything from "things people probably don't want to admit owning" to video cameras, a prosthetic leg and countless children's toys.

He cares for luggage bags and personal items left at airport terminals and on many of the planes that land here.

"I work like an investigator and take the matter of getting people's property back to them seriously," he says. "I don't know how people come to lose things such as cameras and then not report them missing. But while I do all I can to return them, it is sometimes impossible if the owners don't report it."

One photo album that was sent to him contained old black and white pictures of children at a Twizel school. He went to the school, looked through its archives and traced the album's owner.

"It was a great feeling to be able to return it, but it is heartbreaking when we get personal items that we just can't return because there are no contact details or clues. Even luggage sometimes arrives without a label on it."

Unclaimed luggage is listed on an international computer database so bags found in one country can be searched for by an airline in another. At any one time Garland looks after between 15 and 40 suitcases.

"It's a system that works very well with about 98.5 per cent of all lost luggage returned," he says.

But there are limits. Lost suitcases and luggage held by Air New Zealand have a six-month shelf life before they are disposed of.

Personal items found loose on an aircraft are held for three weeks from the time Garland logs them.

Low-value items that can't be returned, such as clothes and children's toys, are given to charities.

Higher-value items are auctioned by Dunbar Sloane in Wellington.

* Passengers who have lost luggage or personal items on aircraft should contact the airline they travelled with.