I travelled first class on Continental last week on a very early flight trying to get to an important meeting. On boarding the plane the flight attendant took my hanging items and hung them in the closet, I was nervous to give them to her but she assured me that in first class all items are hung with the corresponding seat number and returned on arrival - I wouldn't need to remember. The flight was (of course) late and the flight attendant never returned my (very expensive) hanging items to me which I left on the plane.

Continental has said that they are not liable for these items and that there is no way to track them and the only thing I can do is to wait for them to potentially show up at their warehouse. Is there anything else i can do? The clothing in question was a gift and is very expensive custom tailored items.

Any ideas?