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Re: Heirloom left on Plane

JBL1
Explorer C

My husband has received the exact same runaround. He put his MacBookPro in the back pocket of the seat in front of him when he was being rushed by the attendant to move things around as we were descending for the landing. The tray table had to be put up etc.  (He was in a deep conversation with the person seated next to him.) The laptop had a cover on it that was multicolored so apparently it blended in very well with the magazines and safety cards also in the pocket.

We left the plane without realizing it was still in the pocket and not in the carry case. 

It was 2 days before he realized it was missing. He obediently filed a report and described the cover (which had to stand out amongst all the other lost items as it was Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night).  

On our return trip we stopped at South West and they said not to worry that this 3rd Party ALWAYS returns ALL the lost items - that they are very good at it and it usually takes 30 days.

That was around 10/10/18. 

We had another trip scheduled around 12/3/18 on SouthWest.  Once again we went directly to the SW Baggage desk to try to find out the name of the 3rd Party company that supposedly every airline uses and if there was any way to contact them. The rep at the desk said basically "nobody knows the name of that company and there is no phone number...... but not to worry because they always TRY THEIR BEST to return the items."  Then she actually said that 3rd Party company was the also the biggest distributor of used electronics as though that was a good thing. Gee, I wonder where they get their inventory from????????   I COULD NOT BELIEVE SHE SAID THAT!!!!!  IT CERTAINLY WAS NOT REASSURING SINCE THE MAC BOOK PRO IS AN ITEM THEY COULD EASILY SELL IN A SECONDARY MARKET.

Today is 1/3/19. He still gets the emails that it is the final notice that nothing has been found.

I'm sure this is not a reassuring post.  We are still trying not to buy another Mac by coping with a new really really really cheap HP laptop for now - hoping that the Mac will show up.  (I'll be re-posting this reply as a new comment because people need to know.)

Re: Item left on Plane

Survey
Explorer C

As my name suggests, this is a survey. 

 

How much would you have paid someone to return your item to you not including the delivery charge?

 

How much including the delivery charge?

 

Thank you.

Re: Item left on Plane

BrandyB
Explorer C

Did you ever get it back?  I just left 2 cell phones on the plane July 5th and I am wondering if I will ever see them again?  Everyone I have talked to at Southwest has not been helpful at all and even stated that they dont know what the process is to retrieve the phones. So sad.  

Re: Item left on Plane

dfwskier
Aviator A

Sorry to hear about your situation.

 

Remember that Southwest is not totally in control of the situation. If the cleaning crew didn't spot your phones, then they could have continued on to the next destination (or next or next) of the plane. Other passengers could have simply picked them up and pocketed them. Southwest flew almost 158,000,000 people last year and it will be more this year. There are lots of moving parts to coordinate when you fly lots of flights for that many people.

 

In any event, here's the form you need to complete to get the ball rolling:

 

https://live.nettracer.aero/southwest-paxview/lostandfound/landing.do?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-LOST-FOUN...

 

Finding lost items is a time intensive process, and if just 1 in 1000 passengers lost something last year, then Southwest would  have had to search for 158,000 items.

 

Hope you get your phones back.

 

Re: Item left on Plane

Milloray
Explorer C

Like the OP asked, is there any way to get information on the actual sequence of events taken by staff in locating lost items? I recently left my iPad on Southwest flight 2295 to San Diego on Monday Aug 6, and didn't realize so until after leaving the airport.

 

I've already filled out the form, but was surprised to see it didn't ask me for what part of the plane I left it (it was in the back seat pocket), which I honestly thought would be helpful information for the lost and found team to have--it made sense to me that if they knew this, they would try searching the plane itself before checking items found by the cleaning crew. In my case especially--the iPad case may be able to blend in with the seat due to its color (and I'm worried it could have gone unnoticed by the cleaning crew until the plane had taken off for wherever its next destination was).

 

I've tried calling customer service to ask about the searching procedure or inform them where the iPad was, but the impression I got from the agent is that this was out of their control/there wouldn't be any way to communicate this to the lost and found team within a reasonable time frame, which would increase the likelihood of someone pocketing it.

Re: Item left on Plane

Passenger1C
Aviator C

@Milloray have you tried contacting SWA through the Lost & Found link below?

 

https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/airport-experience/index-pol.html

 

I completely understand your frustration, and myself have been there too. The reality is sometimes lost items turn up, and sometimes they don’t. In most cases, SW has no way to track down the lost items. 

 

Good luck, and I hope your iPad shows up. There are still good people out there. 

 


SWA Passenger, Community Champion

Re: Item left on Plane

Milloray
Explorer C
Solution

@Passenger1C I tried opening the Lost & Found page in the link, but it wouldn't load for some reason.

 

In other news--my iPad's been found! The recovery team emailed me some hours back and I've arranged for it to get mailed back to me. I honestly can't express how grateful I am for all their efforts towards locating it, but a big thank you to Southwest for this. Smiley Happy

 

That being said, I really still do think the process would benefit from being a bit more transparent...

Re: Item left on Plane

Passenger1C
Aviator C

@Milloray so glad to hear that your iPad was located. Fantastic news! 

 

I hope you shared your comments with SW regarding their current process. It never hurts to give constructive feedback on process changes. 

 

As for the link, I will pass on that information too. I just tried the link, and it worked for me. 

 

Congratulations on your happy ending! 

 


SWA Passenger, Community Champion

Re: Item left on Plane

CMR11
Explorer C

@BrandyB wrote:

Did you ever get it back?  I just left 2 cell phones on the plane July 5th and I am wondering if I will ever see them again?  Everyone I have talked to at Southwest has not been helpful at all and even stated that they dont know what the process is to retrieve the phones. So sad.  


No it is sad because trust in the human race is low.   Someone thinks when they find something it is a blessing but it’s not when you know that person is missing something important to them.   Ok lesson learned.  Thanks for the concern.   Have a great day.