Airline staffing issues lead to more unclaimed bags being lost at airports

Scottsboro, Ala. – An unclaimed baggage store in Scottsboro, Alabama, is full of items from lost or unclaimed baggage.

“All my college friends and stuff are so jealous of all the things I find here,” said shopper Cami Willis.

Everything in the store is from unclaimed bags for at least 90 days. Owner Brian Owens has been running Unclaimed Baggage for nearly 50 years. He said he often saw more bags coming in during busy travel periods, but not like this.

“We have more product now than ever before,” Owens said. “both at unclaimedbaggage.com and in our store.”

Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, Alabama, sells items from lost or unclaimed baggage at airports. (Fox News)

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FlightAware reports that airline staffing issues have caused many of these baggage problems.

Airline staffing issues cause more bags to be delayed or lost to passengers. (Fox News)

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“With so many workers missing, and fewer baggage handlers, what happens is that a lot of these things don’t reach their destinations,” said Kathleen Pang, a spokeswoman for FlightAware.

Unclaimed Baggage gets more baggage from all over the United States, including from the nearest major airport in Atlanta.

Unclaimed baggage is seeing more baggage arrive from airports in the United States (Fox News)

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“Hartsfield is definitely a huge airport,” Owens said.

“But we see items come to us by tractor-load every week from all over America.”