Is It Legal For Airlines To Sell Your Lost Luggage? The Answer May Surprise You

You've just landed at your dream destination, but your suitcase is nowhere to be seen. Hours turn into days and then weeks, and finally, your bag is officially declared lost. But have you ever wondered what happens to your luggage when it vanishes into thin air? Do airports have a baggage graveyard? Not quite. It turns out the contents of your suitcase might be enjoying a second life because the airlines can sell your unclaimed luggage. And it's totally legal.

First of all, don't panic. It's not common for an airline to lose your luggage — 99.5% of baggage gets to its rightful owner immediately. And airlines usually reunite mishandled bags with their owners fairly quickly. But after a certain period –– often between five and 14 days –– airlines declare your luggage lost, and an unlucky 0.05% of us never see our bags again. Even though the airline will compensate you up to a maximum of $4,700 on domestic flights, according to the Department of Transportation, your actual belongings are...poof! Gone. 

Your luggage is on its own journey –– not to London or Tokyo, but to Scottsboro, Alabama. U.S. airlines have contracts to pack up and sell your luggage to a company called Unclaimed Baggage. The luggage is sorted and then sold, either in their vast store in Alabama or on their site. Again, this is legal, though it's important to note that airlines don't make a profit from selling your stuff. Nor are they purposefully taking it to sell off –– it's just that if a suitcase remains unfound after at least three months and you've been compensated for it, the contents have to go somewhere.

Once your luggage arrives in Alabama, its journey has only just begun. Unclaimed Baggage begins by sorting luggage into categories — clothing, jewelry, electronics, and so on. The company also decides whether to sell, donate, or recycle items. Then, clothes are laundered, electronics are wiped of personal data, and everything is priced.

Prices can be up to 80% lower than normal retail value, which has made Unclaimed Baggage a popular destination for bargain hunters. Unclaimed Baggage finds a lot of stuff that you probably wouldn't expect such as still-tagged designer items, ski equipment, and enough AirPods to stock hundreds of Apple stores. In addition to many other items, they've unearthed an Egyptian burial mask, a bear pelt, and even a camera belonging to NASA. But before you take out your credit card, read our article about what you need to know before buying unclaimed baggage.

If you're horrified by the thought that someone will go riffling through your suitcase and don't want your bag to suffer this fate, there are things you can do. One easy solution is to stick an AirTag or similar inside your suitcase so you can track its movements. Another is to be choosy about where you fly from. After all, Osaka's Kansai International Airport claims to have never lost a piece of luggage! And if the worst does happen, you can always head down to Scottsboro and try to track down your lost items yourself. However, it might be easier to just take the compensation check and buy some new things.