机场丢失的行李究竟去哪儿了?

　　The Daily Mail: In an old warehouse in Tooting, south London, an auction is ongoing. 200 people or more are buying piles of worn T-shirts, swimsuits and flip-flops in battered suitcases.

　　If you've ever wondered what happened to that forlorn suitcase you saw going round and round on the airport luggage carousel, the chances are it came here.

　　Greasby's auction house sells around 200 suitcases a month from Heathrow Airport — bags that were never collected or got lost and couldn't be traced to their owner — and auctions them every two weeks.

　　Bags full of clothes go for a little as ?16, but there's a catch — you don't know what's inside. It's a lottery. Which makes it very exciting.

　　But Christine Sachett, 62, who's been running these auctions for 40 years, says people should keep their expectations low. All electrical goods, jewellery, shoes and toiletries are removed and sold separately.

　　Figures show that 21.8 million bags — that's seven per 1,000 passengers — get 'mishandled' every year. That means they are delayed, damaged, lost or stolen. And three per cent of them are permanently lost — that's 654,000. It sounds an awful lot but apparently it's half the number it was in 2007.