Savannah/Hilton Head adopts solution to boomerang lost items back to travelers faster
Air travel in the past three years has seemed like an uphill battle of canceled and delayed flights, pilot shortages, hours-long waits to clear passport control and security and a mountain of lost luggage.
But the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is taking a step to alleviate one of those stressors by adopting a new solution to help travelers find lost items more efficiently.
Boomerang, a lost and found AI technology platform, announced its partnership with the Savannah airport to help reunite travelers with those misplaced or abandoned items. Launched by founders Skyler Logsdon, Augustine Diep-Tran and Philip Inghelbrecht in October 2021, the web-based technology is working to help lost items stay off the auctioning block or end up on the racks of a thrift store.
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“Lost and found has been this decades-long problem for businesses that no one is really focused on helping them. Everyone knows that companies like airlines and airports … they all collect items,” said Logsdon, cofounder and CEO of Boomerang. “They just think it's something that we’ve got to do, and so they didn't know they needed a lost and found solution. They were just tagging inventory in old-school ways.”
The major U.S. airlines manage their lost and found claims process online where passengers provide their contact information, a detailed description of the item and whether they want the item prepared for shipment or pickup. However, the turnaround time can usually take days or weeks as the old-school ways Logsdon mentioned has airline personnel matching items with the naked eye.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) estimated that approximately 90,000 to 100,000 items are left behind at checkpoints each month. Lost and found items are held by TSA for a minimum of 30 days, and if the item is not claimed, its either destroyed, turned over to a state agency for surplus property, or sold by TSA as excess property.
With Boomerang, Logsdon said the process is streamlined. Every time an airline or airport employee finds an item, they take a picture of the item with an Ipad, log in a description of the item and circumstances in which they found it, and the item is filed in the Boomerang portal. Travelers looking for an item will file a claim on the website and the portal will do all the work.
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“All our partners have to do is take a photo of the item found," Logsdon said. “From there, Boomerang powers the matching and quickly communicates to the customer the status of their claim. This smart automation in customer support for lost and found helps our partners reduce their call and email volume significantly.”
For the three founders, the focus of Boomerang is bridging the gap between travelers, airports and businesses so that there’s one less anxiety-inducing or stressful situation to add to the rollercoaster of air travel.
“I just think lost and found as a black hole is over. There was a lack of transparency and I think those days are over and airports are excited to do their part.”
Laura Nwogu is the quality of life reporter for Savannah Morning News. Contact her at LNwogu@gannett.com. Twitter: @lauranwogu_
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah airport partners with lost and found AI platform Boomerang
