Newark Airport lost and found: Unusual items travelers left behind
NEWARK, N.J. - As you're rushing around at the airport, it's always easy to forget some of your belongings.
From keys, to glasses, hats, electronics, and even human remains, Newark Airport has seen it all in the lost and found office.
What have officials found in the lost and found office?
What they're saying:
Ofelia Guerra, a customer support manager at Newark’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA), has seen them all.
"Cell phones, a lot of keys, laptops, mostly electronics bluetooths, airpods, a lot of clothing," Guerra said.
Since travelers are always on the go, they tend to leave items behind at the TSA's security check point, especially during the holiday travel period.
FILE- A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) worker screens luggage at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
"Sometimes folks are just in a rush to get to their gate. Sometimes they're traveling with younger children, their pets, or they might be processed with a wheelchair handler," Guerra said.
Every day, a TSA officer goes to the checkpoints in each terminal to pick up the items and bring them to an off-site location where TSA’s Lost and Found Office staff catalogue and store the items in hopes that someone who left something behind will contact TSA to reclaim it.
What were some of the most unusual items that were left at checkpoint?
What else was found?:
"We had another incident just the other day where there was a deceased family member and the daughter had a piece of jewelry from that deceased family member, and they left it at the checkpoint, and they were just so upset that they would never see that again," Federal Security Director of New Jersey Thomas Carter said.
Carter said someone was traveling, and they forgot human remains at checkpoint.
"Someone was traveling, and they forgot the human remains at the checkpoint. So we received a call from our security checkpoint supervisor letting us know we have this here. It looks like they just departed, and we can't seem to find them," Guerra said.
Luckily, through coordination with the TSA and a funeral home, the ashes were returned.