I have yet to see anyone other than you suggest that the answer is yes.

1. 100% your responsibility I'm afraid. It's no different to an item getting lost if it was left in the overhead bin.

2. What have you tried so far? Have you been dealing with CO centrally or with the destination airport for your flight? How long after the flight did you first get in contact with them?

Welcome to Flyertalk, gilbane. :)

Full flight, stuffed overheads. FA thinks they're doing you a favor and hanging your stuff (that's on a hanger).

You forget to grab it on your way out. I'm certain that happens thousands of times each year. Passengers carry stuff on and forget to carry it off.

Sorry to hear of your loss, but airlines don't assume any responsibility for carryons just because a flight attendant hangs them up in the First Class closet.

A much more common complaint (IME) is when FAs tell passengers that they can't hang their hanging stuff in the closet - usually because the crew has commandeered the closet for their stuff.

I am sure CO will calim they have no responsibilty for left items. Seems to me though that this is one those cirucmstances of shared responsibilty. OP should have remembered FA should have cleared the closet,

The real issue here is how hard CO will try and find it. Clearly the items would have been found later by original Flight Crew or subsequent crew. Items would have belonged to a FC passenger (paying?). Meaning in some way or another one of CO's better customers.

It seems like the OP is less concerend about $'s and more concerned about getting something of personal value returned. Having left stuff on aplane more then once, I sympathize. In one case I realized just as I got of and they allowed me to return to rescure it. In another case, I was actually able to pick it up at the airport before it was sent on its way to aprts unknown,

BTW does anyone know if CO auctions off items found and never claimed. COuld be a great "DO" activity!

Agree, this would be completely your own responsibility I'm afraid...

I thought items left on planes were first handed over to the lost-and-found desk at the airport in question before they were returned to the airline's lost-and-found dept. Others might have more details.

Don't lose faith. I once had a jacket left in the closet show up eight months later. It was found in a warehouse.

Jack

I would expect this would end up at the airport you were flying to. Did you check there?

I'm not sure what sort of "responsibility" you are trying to establish, but CO does have a policy to do our utmost to return articles lost on-board our aircraft to their rightful owners. Articles that were left on-board a Continental aircraft may be reported to the Continental Airlines Baggage Resolution Center at its 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, toll-free number: 1.800.335.BAGS (1.800.335.2247) prompt 1.


http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...t-onboard.aspx

I left a giant Diamond on my last flight, and a bar of gold. Where do I go for CO to replace them? It clearly isn't my fault, I have absolutly no personal responsibilty because this is America... and EVERYTHING is someones else's fault. That's what my lawyer says! :eek:

1) Typically, the only things handed back prior to landing are single coats. If it was any type of bag or multiple items we'll let you pick it up on the way out. Sorry that you both forgot. The general view is that anything placed in the closet besides a personal coat is not our responsibility since it should fit/go in the OH (and things can get thrown/shoved around a bit in the cramped closet). I do understand that your situation was a little different due to the FA assurances.

2) The item probably wouldn't have been found by the cleaners (believe it or not, they're good about returning things). It was probably discovered by the deplaning FA's or the next crew. They would have given it to the GA who should have made a PA. If not claimed it would have gone to CO lost and found in the baggage dept. It would have been logged with a description, date found etc and given a tracking number. I suggest you call CO lost and found. It may take a few days to get in the system.

Hope you find it.

I must take exception to the prevailing mood in this thread that accountability lies with no one other than the passenger, or that in any way this is "identical" to the passenger having left it in an overhead locker.

(Incidentally, I can't count how many times I've heard announcements that if you have difficulty finding space to fit an item in the space overhead your seat, contact a flight attendant to help you find somewhere for it travel. To me that presumes a certain involvement with helping passengers handle their carry-on items.)

When a crew member practically insists that you leave an item with them, I think they take some personal accountability for getting it back to you. Otherwise there would be a twisted incentive for them to "encourage" everyone to leave as much as possible and then hope they don't remember everything down the line.

What's more, policy or legal obligation or not, I for one believe it says a lot about an carrier and their crew and their training how they handle such situations (which is what the OP seemed to be asking in this case). I had a time where I left a nice leather folio, stuffed to the gills with elite airline cards among other things (so upon finding it they knew I was AA PLT, as well as UA PremEx, DL GM, BA Silver...), on the plane without noticing. I noticed it was missing in the baggage claim, and went to AA to see if they could get it from the plane for me. Plane had left, but two hours later, while the plane is in the air, I get a call from an employee in Dallas, saying that the Purser had found my folder, radioed from the cockpit to report it and call me, and how would I like to retrieve it? I had been flying COACH even, and was really, really impressed. Kudos to AA and their cabin crew for that one! ^

On the contrary, when I left a (very nice) pair of slippers onboard a BA flight from JFK to LHR in FIRST, even at the desk in the Concorde Room I couldn't get them to even ask someone to look around the seating area (1A) - they just gave me a phone number for lost and found in Heathrow, which no one ever answered, and which you had to pay to call. :td:

I don't know how long passed before the OP contacted CO to try to track it down (I'm guessing not long) but I would have hoped at least an effort would be made to identify the aircraft and check with both the F/C cabin crew of that and the subsequent flight for a PAX item that cabin crew left in the closet...

Unfortunately, the prevailing mood of the thread is set by the OP. With his title and the icon he chose. Even before he got into the first word in his post.

Yes, he did ask for help in resolving it, but it was almost like an afterthought. Main part of his post and his subsequent replies was to vent.

Even now, he still haven't told us what channels he has used to try to locate his suit, other than just saying CO can't track it. If he really needs help, he'll have told us who and who he's talked to.

It is not just this forum, but most places on the internet. If you just register on a site to vent, you're not going to get much help.

:cool: I understand your diamond and gold bar are being held hostage and will only be returned to you at something known as a "Do." The faster you schedule, the faster the return. Or so I have been told. :)

If they take your jacket or coat, they will return it to you prior to landing. If they store a piece of luggage for you in the closet, it's a courtesy, and you will have to retrieve it upon landing. They will not return it to you. At least that's my take. Like someone else said, you have the responsibility to retrieve it.

Yes, you can contact Continental Lost and Found to try and get it back. It helps it has your name on it.

i cannot imagine that the new flight crew would allow a random bag to travel on board their AC.

if they did, that reflects poorly on how CO's crews are trained in regard to security.

the bag should've been taken to the arrival gate.

i leave my carryon and/or coat all the time. damn free booze! i usually remember by the time i get to the PC. by the time i get back to the gate, its usually sitting right next to the checkin podium.

on the hanging bag note... my bag has never been returned to me. even when hung with my coat. where would i put it if they returned it just before touchdown? nor has my bag even been hung for me. as i board, i ask if i can hang it, they say, "are you in FC? oh ok, sure but please be sure to hang it in the back of the closet." then, after i sit, they take my jacket. its up to me to get the bag on my way out. that's how its always been.