More than 53 million passengers traveled through Charlotte Douglas International Airport last year, and that heavy traffic leaves plenty of lost items behind.

Phones, wallets, laptops, even passports can disappear as travelers rush to catch their next flight, but a new ranking of the nation's busiest airports ranks Charlotte Douglas third in the nation for reuniting travelers with lost stuff.

"Carolina Impact's" Heather Burgess and videographer Doug Stacker take us inside the airport to meet the dedicated team that earned this distinction.

- That's right, Amy, there's some good news for travelers heading out of Charlotte Douglas.

A new study shows that the airport actually ranks number three when it comes to reuniting owners with their mishandled or lost belongings, and we've found that it takes a lot of teamwork and precision and some detective work to get the job done.

(plane roaring) (relaxed piano music) With over 160,000 passengers on average flying in and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport every day, hundreds of items get left behind.

- I've learnt my lesson 'cause I think I've left a few things on the plane and even maybe sitting beside me while I was waiting for luggage just walking away, so yes, of course.

- [Heather] And each morning, those items end up in this small office, bins upon bins of mysteries to solve.

(relaxed piano music) - We log everything in from TSA, parking, curbside, concession stands, anywhere in the airport, we log 'em in daily.

- When you walk in the door, it doesn't really look like much, but behind the scenes, there's shelves and drawers and all these things are labeled by day, by time.

If it's not organized like that, we wouldn't be able to find the item.

- [Heather] But keeping track of what's lost is only the beginning, finding who it belongs to can take some serious detective work.

- They're able to hunt down things that the normal person would not do, like, they call pharmacies, they call the stores, if they have a card for a cleaner, they call the cleaners so that they can get in contact with people, they're looking for clues all through the bag when... From the minute they open it.

- [Heather] And once this team starts investigating a bag or an item, they don't slow down until they've looked for all the clues to find its owner.

- I'll say I went to Facebook, looked up the first and last name.

How we got the name at first, we hold... It was iPhone, so you could hold down the power button to call... To talk to Siri, and then, you could just ask Siri, "Hey, Siri, call mom," or, "Hey, Siri, call sister," and so, that's what we did, we was able to get in contact with the owner's sister, and then, we went on Facebook to find the owner, we did lots of scrolling, I'll say it took us about, like, a few hours.

- [Heather] And it's that curiosity and tenacity that makes this team incredibly successful at the found part of their job.

So tell me how you find the owners of the cell phones.

- He made a claim and... But we don't have his name on our site, so I found his phone and he listed his cell phone, this phone number in his claim.

I used our number to call his phone... - [Heather] And it's a match, and just like that, another lost phone can head home.

The owner gets shipping information, pays the cost, and the team sends it back.

(uplifting piano music) - As long as you have a available phone number and an email, as of right now, I could take that down, add it to the claim and send you our return options via email.

- [Heather] Of course, not everything that turns up here is a phone.

Laptops, AirPods, glasses, jackets and suitcases are fairly routine.

Keys are the most popular.

Then there are the lost belongings nobody would expect.

- I came in one morning and I was like, "We have an urn?"

(laughs) - [Heather] That's right, an urn.

Inside were the ashes of a loved one the family called Grandma Susie.

Her grandson had been traveling with the urn, but arrived at the funeral without it.

- [Shantia] He had the urn in his backpack, went to security and he forgot the urn.

The son got to the funeral, he was like, "It was here."

- [Heather] So they picked up Grandma Susie?

- So they made a joke about, like, she... They knew she gonna be late for her own funeral.

- [Heather] But the things that land here aren't always valuable because of what they cost, sometimes they're irreplaceable because of what they mean.

- A woman lost her cat.

- [Heather] Her cat?

- Yes, she was going through security and the cat has to come out of the kennel.

We actually found it, like, two and a half hours later in one of the equipment rooms behind and underneath something, they were, like, on their hands and knees, like, it was insane.

- We had a blanket that was their mother's blanket, their mother had recently passed away, they wanted to hug everyone in the office, they were really excited, and that really warmed our hearts, to be able to make someone feel that way again.

- [Heather] Lost-and-found at Charlotte Douglas is standing out in a new national survey.

Holafly looked at mishandled baggage and lost-and-found complaints at the nation's 20 busiest airports over a 10-year period.

Charlotte Douglas had the third-lowest rate, with over 1,900 complaints.

That's 6.47 complaints per million passengers.

Only San Francisco and Denver ranked better.

"Our amazing lost-and-found team, just a note to let you know that we appreciate you here..." And for the people doing the searching, the accolades aren't really what keeps them at it, it's the moment a lost item finally finds its person.

- You see people come in, they crying, sad, and then, we come around the corner and we have their items and just to see the... Their face lights up.

We have some unhappy, some tears.

- [Heather] It's part customer service, part detective work, and oftentimes, what this team calls moments of magic.

- 'Cause if it was me, I would want my items back, so we just wanna do the same for people.

(uplifting piano music) - And Amy, the team tells us that during peak travel times, they can get so many items it makes it hard to go through all of it, but rest assured, they are always trying to reunite that property with its owner, and they really would love to be number one, and I can't see why that's not possible.