I forgot an item on board an airplane on a regular flight. Who should I contact to get it back?

Question

I forgot an expensive jacket on an airplane, in the overhead bin. I realized it long after I left the airport. I agree that this was a dumb move - the cabin temperature was quite warm, and the weather on arrival did not mandate such a jacket.

I landed at TLS (Toulouse Blagnac) on an easyJet flight.

The next day, I attempted to reach out to easyJet to get it back. All I got was an agent on textual chat who told me to discuss with the airport instead (TLS). I was due to get my return flight at that moment. So, I arrived well in advance just in case and was bounced back and forth through the airport bureaucracy. The bag drop agent sent me downstairs to the delayed/damaged baggage office, which told me they did not process this kind of claim anymore after 10 minutes over the intercom and with a line of impatient passengers behind me. I went back to the departures floor to be directed to a generic website (dirby.aero) to post my lost property claim online; the service does not seem to be specific to the TLS airport. I posted the claim and have not received any news so far.

I was not able to get an actual answer from someone at the airport who could tell me if they found my property or not, and how to get it back. Instead, I experienced a lot of finger-pointing.

I usually travel by train in Europe, and most big stations have a proper lost-and-found office. I was surprised that the said airport of a major French city did not have something similar.

Among all the different actors that make an airport run its daily operations (airlines, ground handling companies, the airport itself...), who is the most likely to process lost property on an airplane? Who should be contacted in general for this case?

Answer 1

EasyJet tell us:

Lost property

Did you forget something on one of our flights or at the airport? Not to worry, we’re here to help.

On board

If you’ve left something on board, our Cabin Crew will hand it to our Ground Crew and they’ll pass it on to our Baggage Services team. All lost property not collected within 24 hours is handed to the airport's Lost Property office.

At busy times it may take a while for your lost property to reach our Baggage Services team, so please be patient.

Here’s a full list of numbers by airport for our Baggage Services teams. We would encourage you to check with both your departure and arrival airport as sometimes items are recovered during turnaround and taken back to the aircraft’s base if Ground Crew have already left the aircraft.

For TLS, they give this contact info:

Telephone:

+33 6 08 22 32 09

Email address

lostandfoundtls@alyzia-province.com

Answer 2

Contact the airline. They either have a lost and found service at destination – if it's one of their hubs – or passed it on to the airport's lost and found. In either case they should be able to tell you where the stuff they find on airplanes is handled.

[Source: been there done that...]

Answer 3

Here is my story for a lost item on a Delta flight:

I left an iPad in the seat back pocket and didn't realize it until I got home.

1. Any attempt to contact Delta was redirected to an online "lost and found page". So that's what I did.
2. I got a confirmation email with a CYA disclaimer of "if you don't hear from us within a week, it's gone". No means for follow up or inquiry.
3. 2 weeks later I buy a new iPad.
4. 4 weeks later I get a very suspicious emails from someone that claimed to have found my iPad asking for my password/code. The domain was .aero but there is no website with that domain. I'm sure it's a scam.
5. I send them the serial number. They offer to send me the item for $20 of shipping fee. It still screams scam.
6. What the heck, it's only $20 and they do appear to have the Delta case number (which a scammer could only get through a hack).
7. A week later my iPad shows up on the front porch.

Tentative conclusion: airlines seem to farm out "lost and found" to third parties which operates with processes and rules which appear to be quite arbitrary.

Answer 4

In addition to dda's answer (+1), you can contact TLS airport lost and found: https://www.toulouse.aeroport.fr/preparez-votre-voyage/bagages-perdus-et-objets-trouves

Answer 5

My own experience -

I was on an IndiGo flight from Chennai to Kochi, and inadvertently I had dropped my phone in the aircraft in the process. I did not realise until I had reached the hotel.

We contacted IndiGo support immediately, and told them about our situation. IndiGo had retrieved our phone, but it took a few days to process paperwork and I got my phone back in 3 days.

It looks that in your case the easyJet support wasn't as helpful. But max probability is that they found the jacket, handed it over to Toulouse Airport authorities and so on.

All airlines usually scour the aircraft for L&F before every leg as a part of the cleaning process, and if they find so, they hand it over to the airport for security checks and other formalities.

So, it takes time.