Fairly straightforward scenario. I was in the lounge, moved and immediately upon sitting down noticed that my Apple AirPods had now become missing. I searched all of my belongings and retraced my steps but they were nowhere to be found. This happened in a span of about 30 seconds as I was travelling fairly light. I contacted the lounge staff who said usually people hand stuff in, but in this case the item hadn't been. It was getting closer to my departure so the lounge staff assisted me by logging a missing items report. One of the lounge staff then met me personally at the gate during my departure and apologised, noting they still had not been found, which I thought was a nice touch.

I'm a little disappointed with the service after the fact, however. After waiting 10+ days I noted to Air NZ in an email that there was a camera directly aimed at where I was sitting and which covered the path I walked which would clearly illustrate who had stolen the item and gave a specific timeframe. I got a prompt phone call and was told a "team leader would look into it and be in touch within a few days". It has now nearly been a month with no update.

It's totally my fault to have misplaced the item, but it seems like Air NZ have really dropped the ball here in terms of getting this sorted (as from my perspective it seems to be fairly straightforward). Some direction communication would be nice. I would claim travel insurance but the excess is roughly similar to the price of the AirPods. Anyone else had a similar experience or any further advice?

Edit: called today and was transferred 3 times, then was told by the staff that they "couldn't deal with it because they were too busy and it's not coming up in the system" and they hung up.