schrapy

Who in the heck do I have to call to get my stuff back that was left on a flight, and subsequently recovered?

On a flight from LHR-YVR, my husband accidently forgot his MP3 "jukebox" player in the seat pocket in the front cabin. He unfortunately didn't realize until we were on the flight to Victoria. We reported it immediately upon landing, within 1.5 hours of getting off the first flight, and told them exactly where it was.

We didn't have much confidence it would be returned, however a few hours later the 1-800 baggage services people confirmed it had been recovered from the aircraft and was on its way to us, and they would call when it arrived in Victoria.

Now, 4 days later, nobody has a clue where it is. I get a different story with every person I talk to. The 1-800 number is saying that their files no longer indicates it was found at all (as it did 2 days ago). I have contacted the baggage services at YYJ and YVR directly and they say they don't have it.

Some people say it should be sent to the airport authority, some say baggage services, some say it will go directly to the AC lost and found (but no one can tell me their phone number or whether they exist), some say it will goto Montreal, one person flat out told me that it is unlikely it will make it all the way to us without getting lifted by an employee.

With all these different stories, I am convinced it was "found" (it was never actually "lost") but is sitting in some office that nobody is thinking of checking.

I understand the system to "find" left items is "fluid", but once and item is found, and is matched with a report/customer, isn't there some sort of tracking system they could use to make sure it gets to where it should?

I know they are not "liable", but once they have something that they KNOW belongs to me, and it is NOT LOST, don't they have a responsibility to return it to me?

Konsultant

Forget about it. I doubt you will ever find it.

About 5 years ago I forgot my PalmPilot in the seat pocket, I realized this as soon as I got off the plane. I tried to go back into the tube to the plane but was stopped by GA, who told me to contact lost and found for YUL airport. I have made more than a dozen calls to airport and airline before giving up. Now I make a point of checking all my belongings before I get off the plane.

schrapy

It's really sad that AC doesn't make more of an effort in situations such as this, it just leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling that their employees are largely dishonest and not be be trusted, and it embarrasses me that they have the word Canada in their company title.

I know it sounds harsh for a simple mp3 player. But the fact that this item was never lost, never exposed to the public, and they still couldn't get it back to me, even after they acknowledged having it, leaves me with a very bad impression of them. The only place this item could have went is in an employees pocket.

shuuy

On a last flight into YYC, left my Bose QC2's in the seat pocket. Somehow got the number direct to the baggage office in YYC, and got the concierge to check it first thing in the morning before it left for YVR. The only people who had been through the plane were the groomers.

I now have a pair of Shure e3c's I'm sorry for your loss.

?u@Now

Well I left behind my iPod today , and thanks to my wife and a Concierge who she spoke with it was quickly recovered at the seat I was in waiting before the flight.

Must be the good karma for the numerous digital cameras and MP3 players I have turned in over the past couple of years.

Rejuvenated

Lucky you! Normally when one leaves a belonging onboard after vacating the aircraft, it's gone for good.

The Winger

You will never get it back.

I have left behind a MP3 player and a Gameboy and immediately phoned with no luck. I now make it a habit to load my laptop case while the flight is descending, every time. It is my fault I forgot the stuff but............

ac3000

About a year ago, I left my sunglasses on an AC flight into YUL. I realized it when I reached my car. Needless to say, lost and found said, don't worry about it, we'll find it. Within 15 minutes, I had a call back saying they were found and would be waiting for pickup at the YUL baggage counter. Once thing I always always do is get names. It give me some comfort that if something goes wrong, I can always trace my steps backwards.

luv2flyJ

I've unfortunately left several items onboard flights ranging from cell phone handsfree earpieces (twice), headphones, mp3 player and a carry-on suitbag. The only time I got something back was when I contacted a concierge directly to discuss the item left behind. Despite the efforts of 2 concierges, one in YYZ and one in YUL, it was still 3 days until the suitbag was returned. I couldn't help but feel the delayed baggage department would have filed the suitbag in their perpetual lost area if not for the concierges efforts. Makes one wonder what the lost and found at YUL (where whatever isn't worth pilfering goes) looks like. I have visions of the storage area shown at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc.

muskoka

I feel your pain. I left a CD case with my 12 favorite CD's in the seat pocket
on a YVR-OGG flight. While the person on the phone at lost & found in Montreal was very helpful, he basically said there was very little chance of geting it back as it was dependent on whomever sat in the seat on the return flight, to turn it in, as the aircraft was not groomed in OGG.

Lesson learned.

Bin707

There was a thread (to which I'm too technically challenged to post a link) back in February of this year, with a general agreement that if you leave something on a plane, prepare to buy a new one - and I speak from many hundreds of dollars' experience. It's really too bad, seems to be seen as a perk of the groomers' job to help themselves to anything left by passengers. Reminds me of my misspent youth on fairgrounds, when the guys on the Waltzer would deliberately put sawdust under the seats so that coins which fell out of pax's pockets wouldn't rattle and could be collected every few rides by the "groomers".

Doc Fraud

[QUOTE=schrapy]
I understand the system to "find" left items is "fluid", but once and item is found, and is matched with a report/customer, isn't there some sort of tracking system they could use to make sure it gets to where it should?

QUOTE]

There is a tracking system and you should have been given a local tracking number when you were contacted by the CBO folks. A local tracking number would be a string the contains the station identifier and a locator code.

In a perfect world the tracking number would lead an agent to the location of the article in the baggage office, but sometimes things get a little confused. My daughter had her bag go missing over the weekend when Cape Air left her luggage on the ground in Nantuckett. I called the concierge office in YUL and Lise Andre moved mountains to get it back for us. But even after we were told the bag was in YUL, when my daughter showed up to claim it with the local tracking number, the baggage office folks couldn't find it.

It took a few more phone calls back and forth between YUL and ATL where I was yesterday to get it resolved but all ended well. If you have the tracking number, then stay on the case, your player should show up. The problem is that it is a small article, likely without a name tag and easily misplaced in the mountains of golf bags, roll ons and assorted bags and boxes.

If you have status, (SE or paid J) try working with the YVR concierge office. These folks can work miracles because most know the system very well.

DF

bencd

I feel your pain, I left my QC2 on the seat next to me, with my MP3 player inside. The gate agent would not let me back and I have heard no news a month later. I had my business card inside and everything, but...

Lornag

The only thing major I have left on a plane, has been my passport. On an AC codeshare, UA operated flight to DC. I reported it to the airline and the embassy in DC, applied for a new passport and to my surprise the old one was returned to me within a week.

Although the passport had great value to me, it had very little to the person who found it. Thankfully.

Lorna

AftOf245

Lorna,

How did the ACP adaptor work out for you??