Email from Kamalini Kanapathippillai
For
all frequent flyers ......do check this one out ....
This is an incident that occurred at the airport yesterday.
A passenger with an American passport, changed money, and in the process left
his passport and boarding pass on my counter. As it was placed on the side,
where my monitor blocks the view; it remained there for over 20 minutes; when
the next customer brought it to my attention. I went outside, to search for him
but to no avail.
The passport was well worn, with numerous visas, including Japan. He had
travelled from Narita to LAX. The page in the (U.S.) passport where
one can write home address and third party contact was blank. All there was was
his e mail address.
I went on line, and e mailed him a brief message, including my phone number.
He turned up about a half hour later, profoundly grateful. He had been
blissfully unaware that his passport was missing! He was checking his e
mail in the cab when he saw the mail I had sent. So he turned the cab around
and came back to the airport to collect it. He works in Japan and his work
permit was attached to the Japanese visa in the passport. He was to be in the
US only for a week.
In retrospect it is evident that even if he had written his address in the
passport, it would not have helped. Even a phone number is not much help, as a
finder may not be willing to call long distance, if ' found ' in another
country.
An e mail, any one would send, from any place; and you can access your e mail
from anywhere in the world, when you are traveling!
Therefore PLEASE WRITE YOUR E MAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR PASSPORT; it can
really 'save your bacon' someday! (putting it politely :-) )