Losing a phone, wallet or even an entire bag is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to someone far from home.
That's why online lost and found platform Boomerang is working with airports to reunite travelers with their lost items. The Miami-based startup recently partnered with Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport and Syracuse Hancock International Airport to help them streamline their lost and found operations.
Customers who have misplaced something can log onto Boomerang's app and enter a description to see if the object was logged by one of its partner airports. Those partners have access to software that organizes found items into a user-friendly database, making it easier to match people with their items.
Boomerang also offers a fully managed option where it collects lost items from businesses and stores them until they are retrieved by their owners. It's a resource for large venues, like airports or stadiums, that may find hundreds or even thousands of lost objects a month.
The process improves customer experiences and reduces employee stress by directing lost item claims to Boomerang's system, said Lee Ann Norris, customer experience manager at Savannah/Hilton Head Airport. In the past, passengers typically had to communicate with airport staff through multiple emails to recover missing items, a process that could sometimes take days.
"The Boomerang platform will allow us to fill a big gap and prevent email correspondence from being 'lost in the email abyss,'" Norris said.
The demand for faster response times has been clear in recent weeks, when holiday season flight cancellations stranded passengers at airports — in many cases, separated from their luggage. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) estimates that anywhere from 90,000 to 100,000 items are left behind at checkpoints each month, which totals about 1 million lost objects a year.
Founded in 2021, Boomerang is backed by $2.8 million in seed funding. The company has a 12-person team and is currently searching for an office in Miami Beach, Logsdon said.
"There is a strong wind in our sails right now in the airline and airport industry due to recent headlines around the travel meltdown this holiday season and last summer," Boomerang CEO Skyler Logsdon told the Business Journal. "When you combine that with the rapid adoption of AirTags and Tiles, it's really putting the spotlight on lost item handling and businesses must respond with fast, innovative, and scalable solutions."
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