Travel Tip of the Week: How to Improve Your Chances of Recovering a Lost Item

How to Improve Your Chances of Recovering a Lost Item

People lose things all the time, especially when they travel. On holiday weekends and other big travel times, more people lose more things. For example: Chargerback projects that “at America's airlines, hotels and amusement parks alone, 1,171,275 items with an average total value of $139,164,559 are expected to be lost between May 27, 2016 and June 3, 2016.”

If you plan to travel this Memorial Day, you can take away from this information a reminder to be careful with your belongings. You know that. And sometimes, things get lost anyway. If you do lose something, following these five tips may just help you recover it. Here's the list, courtesy of Chargerback, a business-facing lost-and-found solution used by airlines, hotels and other businesses to help reunite people with lost items:

1. Report the item lost as soon as you notice it is missing. The sooner the venue has a lost item report, the faster they can match it with items found.


2. Describe your item completely. Be specific about the brand, color, model, and any distinguishing characteristics of your item. The more detailed you are, the easier it will be to match with items which have been found.


3. Be clear about where you lost the item. Always provide the date the item was lost and where it was lost. If you stayed in a hotel, look at your check-out receipt and include your room number in the report. A seat number is a valuable bread crumb to find items left on an airplane. And be sure to specify if you left your item in a seatback pocket or in the overhead bin. If the item was lost in an amusement park, let the park know which ride or park feature you were near and where you believe you lost the item.


4. Provide complete contact information. Regardless of how the property or airline manages its lost and found process, complete contact information assures they can communicate with you in the event your item is found.


5. Be patient. Some items are found quickly. Some are found up to 30 days later. Patience is the key to lowering your level of stress when an item is lost. Losing an item can be stressful. Don't let it ruin your holiday.

 

Hopefully, you don't lose anything this Memorial Day or in any of your travels. If you do, hopefully these tips-and this one-help!

FYI: The airport above (didn't lose anything there) is the one in Grand Cayman, which I flew through to hang with Anthony Bourdain.

 

____________________________________________________________

Tried this tip? Let me know in the comments!

Have your own tip? Email it to whitney@johnnyjet.com!

Want to see more tips? Click here for all 676!

Want even more travel tips? Subscribe to the Daily Travel Tip newsletter! All you have to do is sign up for the weekly newsletter by filling in your email address and checking the Daily Travel Tip box in the top-right corner of the homepage.

If you already subscribe to the newsletter, fill in your email and check the Daily Travel Tip box in the same top-right corner of the homepage and you'll receive an email with a link to update your JohnnyJet.com preferences. On that page, just click the Daily Travel Tip box and Update Profile and you'll have Johnny's best tips, straight to your inbox each day. And don't worry-it's easier than it sounds!

The post Travel Tip of the Week: How to Improve Your Chances of Recovering a Lost Item appeared first on Johnny Jet.