Lost item during flight - found by airline mechanic a year later and returned
I was on a United flight with a window seat. I had my Zune mp3 player on my lap and during takeoff it slipped off and onto the floor. No big deal, I thought. I searched for a bit before, then I noticed the side panel was partly off. I turned around and asked the lady behind me if she could pick it up. She was nice enough to dig around a hell of a lot and came up with nothing. At the end of the flight the attendants helped me look and then called maintenence because it appears the device had fallen into the open crack of the unsecured panel, a safety hazard they said. The maintainence guy tells me it must have went down the crack and that leads to the hull of the aircraft and that it is unrecoverable. A couple people told me the plane couldn't fly until they got it out, though the next flight took off as scheduled so I doubt that.
In my assessment this is United's fault for having a safety hazard on their plane. Am I not allowed to accidentally drop something on the floor without fear of it disappearing into a bottomless pit? Rationally I think they will tell me to pound sand. The only path I see is that I can raise a stink about safety hazards and them allowing aircraft to take off with foreign objects in the hull.
edit: I filled out a lost item claim form but I'm assuming that will go nowhere so I'm wondering what to do next if anything
UPDATE: Now a year later, I got a call from an aircraft mechanic on the East Coast. He found my Zune on a 757 while doing some work in the hull of the aircraft. Among other items he found jewelry and a Canadian passport in the same spot.
So my mp3 player has been flying around the country for the past year, and is now on its way back to me.
I was on a United flight with a window seat. I had my Zune mp3 player on my lap and during takeoff it slipped off and onto the floor. No big deal, I thought. I searched for a bit before, then I noticed the side panel was partly off. I turned around and asked the lady behind me if she could pick it up. She was nice enough to dig around a hell of a lot and came up with nothing. At the end of the flight the attendants helped me look and then called maintenence because it appears the device had fallen into the open crack of the unsecured panel, a safety hazard they said. The maintainence guy tells me it must have went down the crack and that leads to the hull of the aircraft and that it is unrecoverable. A couple people told me the plane couldn't fly until they got it out, though the next flight took off as scheduled so I doubt that.
In my assessment this is United's fault for having a safety hazard on their plane. Am I not allowed to accidentally drop something on the floor without fear of it disappearing into a bottomless pit? Rationally I think they will tell me to pound sand. The only path I see is that I can raise a stink about safety hazards and them allowing aircraft to take off with foreign objects in the hull.
edit: I filled out a lost item claim form but I'm assuming that will go nowhere so I'm wondering what to do next if anything
butterfingers
I think they will tell you to pound sand.
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UPDATE: I got a call from an aircraft mechanic on the East Coast. He found my Zune on a 757 while doing some work in the hull of the aircraft. Among other items he found jewelry and a Canadian passport in the same spot.
So my mp3 player has been flying around the country for the past year, and is now on its way back to me.
Sounds like he found the stuff... reported it , and someone searched the records looking for a Lost item report.... which appropriately you HAD submitted.. presumably that allowed you to be contacted.... Wow....
(Good ending indeed.... and what excellent service... if only eventually!)
It just goes to show, you should always report lost or stolen items, you never know when they'll reappear. Back in the pre-video ipod days, I left a a holder with probably 12 DVDs in a seat pocket. I did report it, but since it had no identifying info on it, I just assumed it was futile and forgot about it. About 8 months later I got a call from CO - somehow the case, with all the DVDs still inside, turned up. There are still some honest people in this world.
This is really as it should be.
However, I am impressed w/ the mechanic, I am sure that many others would have just kept it. to the mechanic and to UA.
Glad that there's a happy end.
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In my assessment this is United's fault for having a safety hazard on their plane. Am I not allowed to accidentally drop something on the floor without fear of it disappearing into a bottomless pit? Rationally I think they will tell me to pound sand. The only path I see is that I can raise a stink about safety hazards and them allowing aircraft to take off with foreign objects in the hull.
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Thanks for the update! There are honest people and this is a good opportunity to remind everyone to put a business card in with your electronics. I accidentally left my Bose headphones case with the headphones PLUS my iPod on a flight into ORD. I got a call on my cell phone 15 minutes later from the woman who found them. She was on her way out of the airport but left everything at the Information desk.
No 
and what excellent service... if only eventually!)
