Passenger Finds Someone’s Wallet on a Flight and Adds Cash Before Returning It

The anonymous passenger who found a wallet left on an earlier Frontier flight may not be the hero that we deserve, but is certainly one we need to hear about this Thanksgiving weekend.

20 year old Hunter Shamatt lost his wallet on a Frontier flight to Las Vegas. Inside was an ID, debit card, a paycheck and $60 in cash.

He had been seated in 12F. The cleaners in Las Vegas didn’t find it — I find stuff on the ground and in seat back pockets all the time, how often does cleaning between planes consist of doing much at all?

Another passenger found the wallet on an Omaha – Denver segment. Since the wallet had the owner’s address, our hero had the wallet shipped to the owner’s house. The package contained a note, signed only with initials. And the p.s. on the letter said,

I rounded your cash up to an even $100 so you could celebrate getting your wallet back. Have fun!!!

The person who found the wallet actually added extra money to it before sending it back, covering the shipping costs as well.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. […] And finally, a great story that makes you feel good about humanity. We often hear about all of the crazies out there; this person went above and beyond: Passenger Finds Someone’s Wallet on a Flight and Adds Cash Before Returning It […]

Comments

  1. It is story like this one who help me restore faith in humanity. It’s nice to remember once in a while that there are good fellow human beings out there. We need to hear more of stories like this rather than the negative once that unfortunately are the majority. Giving anonymously is the highest gesture of unconditional love towards other human beings.

  2. Great story but you should let them know you found it and are mailing it back. That way they do not go through the hassle of cancelling debit/credit cards and getting a new license.

    You can still be anonymous and add the extra cash as a surprise.

  3. Andrew how should they be contacted? Look their phone number up in white pages? Check the cell phone pages for those who do not have a land line? How about drop it off at lost and found? Ha ha ha ha Ask the airline for his contact information? All good ideas but in today’s world mailing it to his house was his best option,

  4. As a CPA with 30+ years of experience who gets a paycheck anymore? all payroll checks should be direct deposit just for this reason. If that check was lost it would take a week,to replace it.

  5. Tomri – great point. Yes, the focus is on the good deed, but there are always learning points here for some of Gary’s readers who are not so savvy (read: clueless millenials). The 1st thing lesson is that your wallet should never leave your pocket (and wear jeans or something that it won’t fall out). I always keep passport and cellphone on my person (you won’t have time to go into the overhead if there is an emergency). The 2nd lesson is direct deposit (and immediately snap a photo and deposit all checks).. The 3rd lesson is cancel all credit/debit cards immediately – there is no percentage in not replacing them. The 4th is always have ID with contact info in your wallet. There are many good people in the world who will want to return lost items, but often have no way to find the owner.

  6. @maryAnn I got the point. Like Boraxo I am not a clueless millennial. I deal with this all the time. The PAX would not have received such a good dead and had to replace his debit card, get a replacement ID (so he can take the return flight) if he used common sense.

    My 18 yr old nephew got off a LAX-PHL flight went to get onto his connecting flight, realized he did not have his wallet. He had to get the airline to open the doors of the plane and security had to escort him to the plane while he looked for his wallet. He was lucky the plane was still there and not taken off for Europe.

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