TSA Employees Reunite Passengers with Items Left Behind at LAX

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hundreds of laptop computers and cellular telephones are among the more than 12,000 items left behind by harried passengers at Los Angeles International Airport.

Wallets, passports, eyeglasses, prescription drug vials, dentures and other items, including a peach-colored bra and a boxed ''Walking and Dancing Hula Doll'' are also among the items collected by security personnel.

Federal Transportation Security Administration officials store many of the items and attempt to return them to rightful owners.

''At LAX, you'll see just about everything,'' said Doug Rae, assistant federal security director for screening at the airport.

There are 275 laptop computers, 662 sets of keys, 206 cell phones, 233 driver's licenses, 72 wallets, 77 purses, 1,161 belts, 351 watches, 37 passports, 461 eyeglasses, 38 crutches and canes, 45 shoes and 56 prescription drug vials marooned at the airport.

''People are in a hurry They get nervous. They don't know what to expect,'' said Donna Maxie, who supervised the airport lost and found until last month.

Three full-time TSA workers devote their days to trying to reunite the lost items with their owners. They categorize the items by day, time and terminal where they were lost. They take from 30 to 100 calls a day from travelers looking for items left behind.