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Has anyone ever managed to get back lost property from leaving it on a plane? I left my glasses in the seat in front and never managed to get them back. Is this because everything is just thrown away - or is there a lost property auction (as there is with luggage)? Anyone know?
I left my wife on a plane once - she was sitting in a different row from me and had taken sleeping pills - I only realised when I was walking to immigration!
GeorgeG - i think the only thing you've lost is the plot! Seriously though, i did once leave my passport on the plane, but the ground staff were very helpfully in getting it back for me.
Business Traveller replies:
Regular readers of our Just Landed column will remember we featured the "Lost and Found" services offered by Korean Air:
http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/just-landed-new
If you've ever lost anythng onboard one of its planes, chances are it has been logged on the carrier's website. Go to http://www.koreanair.com, and navigate to At the Airport / Baggage Services / Lost and Found...
I left my laptop on an easyjet flight and picked it up from lost luggage at Gatwick the next day. Very relieved, and very impressed.
My wife left her purse on a KLM flight. We were 15 steps into the terminal when we realized it. The staff would not let us on the plane. Our passports, money everything was in it. They after a 30 minute wait "found" the purse. without the money or jewellery. When asked if we could see the staff . the answer was you guessed it "no" the plane had been claened and the staff had left and totop it off it was the last plane that staff was to clean for the day. We were helpless.
Yes there is, all lost property left on aircraft is handed in first to the airline ground staff who try to discover the owner, usually by the seat number where it is discovered then if this is unsuccessful it is passed to the airport lost property. One can usually pick it up 24 hrs after arrival.
I'm not sure if you can recover the items. The airlines probably do have a process for these, but it really depends on what is lost and who found it.
I once left a notepad in business class on BA, despite calling within 24 hours, they had nothing reported on their system.
I managed to leave my wallet in the seat pocket on a recent flight, by the time I got the luggage reclaim there was a PA asking me to attend the airline desk, waiting for me there was a member of Cabin Crew with my wallet. Thats what I call service, thanks to bmi.
My mother once left her reading glasses in the front seat pocket on a Japan Airlines plane. She only realized it when she was transitting in the lounge in Narita. She informed the attendant in the lounge about her loss. When she boarded the next flight, a cabin crew brought her glasses to her seat! She was ever so impressed by JAL.
I once left my passport and folder on an easyjet flight to Luton. As I have a spare passport I only realised when I got into my hire car and tried to sort my papers before my meeting in 20 minutes. I decided to wait until after my meeting to collect them, and went back 3 hours later to a very confused easyjet staff member who couldn't believe that I had passed through immigration without a passport. They had rushed with my passport to immigration confident that I would be there, unable to pass through. A member of HMRC came with my passport and asked me if I had any proof of identity. I pointed out to her that I looked remarkably like the picture in the passport she was holding!
Some years ago, seated on a Saudia 747 at Riyadh, ready to depart to Cairo, we were told we had to immediately disembark as there was a technical fault with the plane. In the rush and to my annoyance I forgot my book which I had half finished and was in the seat pocket.
After a wait of an hour in the lounge we were told we would now fly to Jeddah, change planes and continue on another plane to Cairo. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when taking my seat (same number) to find my book in the seat pocket.
To this day I still wonder who was important enough to commandeer the plane?
I was flying business class back from Seoul and slept the whole way. When we were disembarking I checked the seat pocket in case I had left anything behind. Inside was a note from an admirer saying I had talked in my sleep and he was in love with me... we have been married for 4 years this week!
I left my Bose noise headset in the seat back on CX flt HKG-SIN. 7 days later, I walked up to the airport staff and asked for the lost and found of CX at SIN aiport. 20 mins later my headsets were in my hand; with a reminder "they are very expensive you will not be lucky twice"
I was impressed in the understatement, the honesty and resoursefulness of the CX cabin crew and ground staff was amazing.
It is true the people make the company.
The flyingbunny story is one of the best that I have heard on Biz Traveller so far!
There should be a voting system to see which of the stories on here most impresses.
I have to say - the Fedex'd suit story (Mandarin Oriental thread), the books swap on the Saudi flight and the note left on the headphones all are a close second.
For sheer hilarity, the sleeping wife story takes the pick!
I love the Flying Bunny story! I once left 200 B&H on a SIA flight that landed early one morning at Manchester. Reported it to ground staff, but never expected to see them again. 1 week later postman brought them. I could not believe my luck - well done SIA and MAN ground staff.
Never left any thing on a plane but did drop my passport between the skybridge and the cabin door it sailed down the gap between both, you can imagine my panic.
But just as the doors were closing a member of the cabin crew gently placed the document into my sweating palm. I have never been so relieved in my life so much so that I had to drink the contents of a full bottle of Chilean white.
I will say that as a former airlines employee I did my absolute best to get stuff back to people... especially the important stuff-- passports, cellphones, wallets, keys.. etc.. I will also say that *most* airlines mandate that when staff (flight attendants or cabin cleaners) find items they are to turn it into a supervisor immediately.. do things still go "missing" due to theft? well, sure.. But I will say that in my opinion, far more things get found *and* returned than not.. I will also say that many people swear that they left it in the seat back pocket-- only for us to find it on the floor-- five rows forward (as it slid forward on the smooth carpet during landing).. Also, lots of things get "found" and turned into the carriers local Lost & Found office only to sit because no one comes for them-- even after the airlines call them... I've called people for their passports, keys, credit cards, wedding rings (why is your ring off your finger?) and had people say "I'll be by in a few days"... only they never show.. Eventually we had to turn in these items to the local police or in some cases we donate them to local charities (clothing, glasses, etc.).. You'd be suprised how much resources are directed at the lost & found function...
Well my experience of Lost Property at Gatwick was pretty abysmal - I left a book on a Flybe flight - although I couldn't pick it up from the Flybe desk for a while so it was sent down to Lost Property - has anyone ever been down there...? The lady on duty when i asked for my book was impatient and sullen. I thought she had lost the plot. But in fact I had just lost my book. She explained through gritted teeth "we get hundreds of books every week" and so I had to describe my book in great detail. The cover not the contents. It did not help that I could not remember the date of my flight (I take many flights from Gatwick) She disappeared for about a minute and came back and said "no". Not sorry sir your book is not here. Just no. It must be annoying to have so many people coming to that little window to ask about their property but I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important. I believe a little courtesy would not go a miss. Even if my book did.
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