lorcancoyle

Air Pacific (as then was, Fiji Airways now) massively impressed me several years ago. Had a delayed flight that meant I missed my connection in AKL, so they booked me an airport hotel. About 30 mins after checking in I get a call, "Did you forget anything on the plane?" - took me a minute to realise it was my iPad that I'd forgotten. Feeling like a complete eejit I thanked them and asked if I should go back to airport then or collect in the morning, "No need, we'll drop it off at your hotel in an hour or so"

Haven't had to take a flight on a route they serve since, but they made a lasting impression

PETER01

I would have though it would have been more size related for storage costs than value but you always learn something new here so thanks Swiss Tony ^

cysyuen

I lost plentiful of items before so I may be able to add something extra.

1. Left an iPod after a HKG-LHR flight. Reported it to guest service in GC then special service handed it back to me and I signed it.

2. Left a wallet at T5 arrivals lounge. I only realised it when one of the GAs called me. As I was at GC already waiting for another flight they kindly offered for someone to deliver it to me at the gate. What's special about this case is that I was asked if I would like to delays flight to MUC if they can not deliver it in time (they did at the end)

3. Left a brown bag in the EDI lounge. Realised it on the plane and reported but they couldn't find it at that point. Then called lost property and paid £7.50 to retrieve it days later after i returned.

My feeling is that it depends on your luck -- as long as it hasn't been handed over to loat property then you don't have to pay anything.

c1223

I'm sure if you fought hard enough you'd be able to get your items back for free. Can't imagine it can be too legal to withhold something you lost and try to charge you for it. Unless there's some small print somewhere where you enter a contract with those arrangements.

Swiss Tony

Just checked again - the cost is between £0 and £20 but they won't tell you in advance.

The cataloging is truly dire. You can have a look at the website if you want http://www.missingx.com/

PETER01

Thanks again Swiss Tony! ^

I love to learn of wee nuggets/bits of info like this, well it's one for me as a non FF'r. I'm away to add it to my BA scratchpad. (sad I know that I keep one)

Bluebirdnick

I'm not a fan of legal debate, but since when did the list item become the property of someone else such that they can refuse to hand it over until you've paid the fee?! It's always confused me. They might want to charge a fee and I can see that a modest fee (like the £4 TfL fee) is reasonable... But what is to stop a passenger telling them to shove the fee and hand back his/her property?

switch007

Hear hear!

On a plane, the item is not lost, it is mislaid. Is it legal for the airline to hand your possession to another company who then holds it hostage for a fee...? The airline surely has a duty to locate the owner first of all.

Globaliser

Possession: remember, it's said to be nine tenths of the law. After all, what's the passenger going to do if the company refuses? Break in to the storage area and forcibly retrieve it?

While I know it's in the nature of FT to demand the moon on a stick, I find it hard to see why a company which is spending money on a system for retrieving, collecting, logging / tracking, safely storing, and returning your lost property to you shouldn't be entitled to ask you (the person at fault) to pay towards the costs of that system.

srbrenna

Granted but there seems to be two threads here. One is that the item gets to the third party who catalogues it (alledgedly ) and charges to retreive it. Fair enough I guess. The other is that BA returns the item without handing it to the third party. Do BA charge a fee themselves?

710 77345

But I'm already paying £40 odd quid to Heathrow to use their airport facilities - and I don't think a lost property office is a particularly surprising thing to find at an airport, so would expect my fee to cover those costs.

rossmacd

I left my wallet in 64K storage drawer in November last year after arriving from JFK in to C gates. I had a 1hr connection to OSL in A, only noticed it missing after transfer security with very long queues - ran to GC North and the very kind guest services rep phoned around but told me to go to my gate for OSL - I was pre-boarded, waiting at the top of escalator, and just as doors were about to close a very flustered BA ramp agent appeared out of nowhere presenting my wallet - I have never been so thankful. I thought I had no chance. BA.com/welldone was of course submitted - a true gent ^

windowontheAside

I was told in advance the cost of retrieving my device. They were very clear in their communication with me.

ReynoldsNumber

I recently left my Ipad on an arriving flight from BRU (waaay too much champagne on this short flight). Some hours later, I contacted the main lost property office at LHR, but my Ipad was no where to be seen. Someone suggested I check a small lost property office at the far left of T5 departures. So the next day I turned up unannounced, and to my relief my Ipad was there! First question he asked was if I was a gold card holder - unfortunately being a silver, I had to pay a £10 fee.

Im not sure why they took my Ipad there instead of the main lost property office - maybe they checked my itinerary, as I was also flying back to BRU on this day.

scottishpoet

there is a charge at Glasgow as well

I seemed to lose a belt at security. next time I went through I tried to retrieve the belt. It was going to cost more to retrieve that it was worth

hence the cases and cases of stuff that are regularly auctioned off!