Creative Problem Solving

" To have a great idea, have a lot of them."Thomas Edison

The commercial airline business started in 1909 which means passengers have been leaving personal items behind for about 106 years.

Imagine the shear volume of books, jackets, and stuffed animals lost forever in the past century.  There are a couple of books I never finished because I raced off the plane without adequately "checking for personal belongings" as instructed.

One time my son left on the plane a homemade comic book which he had been working on for three months. I'm pretty sure I cried more than he.

Of course, since I stopped labeling my jackets in second grade, most of the things I left behind didn't have anything identifying them as mine anyway, so what could be done?

KLM's dedicated Lost & Found team at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is on a mission to reunite lost items as soon as possible with their legitimate owner. From a teddy bear found by the cabin crew to a laptop left in the lounge. Locating the owners can sometimes be a challenge, so special forces have been hired...

Well, after a century of living with the issue, one airline had a brilliant idea.  The short video below demonstrates the solution and makes me wonder what other problems deserve a second look.

If I'm really candid, I may want to leave a stuffed animal behind just to meet the dog!