ON AIRLINES LOST ON LOST & FOUND

CUSTOMER DIS-SERVICE

As readers may know from my posts the last couple of days, I've been down to the Caribbean for the 2007 World Cup Cricket matches. 

Upon finally reaching home after a long travel day this Sunday, I realized that my camera bag was not in my backpack. 

It quickly hit me where I'd left it.   

It was on the American Eagle flight 5087 Sunday, from Nevis to San Juan.  The flight was over half hour late coming in from Nevis, and we had only 30 minutes or so to clear immigration and customs in San Juan, and transfer our checked bags onto a flight into Newark airport. 

I remember taking the camera bag out of the backpack boarding the Nevis flight, so that the backpack would fit the smaller overhead compartments on the American Eagle plane.  And of course, I forgot to grab the camera in the rush to connect with the next flight.

I relay all these details, because most reasonable people would assume there would be two ways to quickly connect with an airline on a piece of luggage left on one of their planes.

The first would be a centralized, national "Lost & Found" toll-free number.  If that weren't available, one would expect to find "Lost & Found" in the phone menu when calling any of the toll-free numbers.

The other would be to be able to the airline's website and quickly find a "Lost & Found" tab where one could dash off an email with the specific details, so that the airline could quickly follow up.

Well, as I write this, I've been on hold for over 40 minutes trying to reach the LOCAL Baggage claim cum Lost & Found department in San Juan.

The American Airlines rep on the national toll-free number said that I would need to contact EACH of the baggage claim AND Lost & Found phone numbers at EACH of the locations where I thought I might have left the item.  I'm looking at a list of over 4 telephone numbers.  And have just managed to dial one so far.

While I was waiting, I thought I'd go online and check out the American Airlines website and see if there was an option to connect online on this issue.  After scrounging around for over 20 minutes, I found no area on the web-site that relates to Lost & Found.

I next typed in that phrase in the search box at AA.com, and got the following results.  Essentially a listing of those three words in every published document on the site.  Take a look at it and see if it's at all helpful.

Most likely, I'll be writing off the Nikon D40, the super zoom lens, along with a handful of high-performance memory cards.  About a $2500 write-off. 

More importantly, I'll of course lose all the pictures taken on this trip, which of course are not easily replaceable.

This is the second time this year, I've had this kind of an experience with items left on an American Airlines flight.  A few weeks ago, my wife left a winter coat on an American Airlines Business Class flight, where the attendant forgot to return the coat upon landing that they normally offer to hang up.  In that case as well, she was rushing to catch a tight connection, due to a delay on the originating flight.

There too, we spent the better part of a week calling AND visiting the Baggage Claim and Lost & Found phone numbers in four cities (it was a complicated itinerary).  In each case, the person on the phone, or at the Baggage Claim office in person, seemed generally eager to pass the hot potato of a customer request for help onto the next link in the travel chain.

That coat too was a write-off.

In both cases, I knew exactly on WHICH flight the item had been left behind. 

In both cases, there was a high likelihood that the items would be recovered in the normal cleaning and preparation for the next flight. 

In both cases, one would expect those items to be forwarded to a lost and found area. 

In both cases, one would expect a easy way for passengers who discover the loss, to quickly and easily connect with the said item without having to call half a dozen representatives of the airline all over the country.

I'm a long-time Platinum flyer on American Airlines.  And this post is not to single out this carrier.  I would expect to have a similarly frustrating experience getting centralized help on Lost and Found on most of the other carriers.

I guess the reason for this post is to publicly reflect on how the blindingly obvious customer service solutions (in hindsight of course), are never, ever implemented by the companies that otherwise fight tooth and nail for your business.

Comments

[David]

Michael,

So sorry to hear about your camera bag being lost. As a former excessively frequent flyer, I've had my share of baggage loss experiences. Inevitably, the irrepleacable item was of much more sentimental than monetary value, like your lost pictures from what must have been a wonderful World Cup event. But at least we have our memories!

[Jessica]

I recently lost my eyeglasses on America Airlines trip Boston to San Juan. I can totally relate to your experiences. I have called San Juan AA I don't know how many times. No one will help. One person who worked for American said "We'll for it to be returned it depends on the honesty of the employee." I'm sorry to say I don't think you will me getting you Camera or me my glasses.

[Lia]

Micheal,
I found your article while trying to find a link for lost and found + American airlines. I, like you, know WHICH flight I left my cell phone on, I also KNEW it before the plane moved OR let anyone else on the plane. However, even thought we knew it was on the plane, we were not allowed to go back on the plane and retrieve the phone. We were less than 25 feet from the phone and the airline employees would not even let us ATTEMPT to retrieve our own item!!
I won't fly this airline again--
Tell me, how exactly do you "write off" all the stuff you lose on their airplanes?
Lia

[karen]

Your blog post probably just saved me a lot of aggravation. Last night my husband left his iPod on an American Airlines flight from St. John to Puerto Rico. I was planning to call American Airlines "lost and found" with the flight number and the seat he was in. I went to the AA site, and, as you mentioned, there is no obvious way to locate their lost & found. So, I did a quick Google on "lost item on American Airlines flight" and found your post.

Judging by your post and the other comments on here, it's probably not even worth trying to recover the iPod, especially since it's a couple of years old : ) It sucks even more for you and the others who lost some things that are much more personal / valuable.

Needless to say, we'll avoid flying American Airlines again, if possible.

[Michael]

I recently lost an Ipod on an American Airlnes Flight. I was told by American Airlines central lost and found that the cleaning crews have first dibs on all left behind items and if they don't want the item they throw it away. That is almost a verbatim qoute.

Brian

[Melynda A Bailey]

I too have lost an item on a recent American flight. I know exactely where it was left, in what seat and flight number. Before I even discribed the item "Wanita" in Dallas told me she did not have it. I was amazed that she did not need to have a description nor have look at an inventory or through a clost to verify that she did not have the item, a bluetooth headset wall charger. I think the posters comments about cleaning crews having first dibs is probably true and I just wish they would say that instead of going through the presense of customer support.

[Jillian]

This EXACT same thing happened to me about 3 years ago- I literally reported the lost camera in person about 30 minutes after the flight had landed- I knew exactly where it was- the front pocket of my seat- exact seat number and everything. No response whatsoever.
To add insult to injury, I was in the last row of the plane, my boyfriend and I were the last passengers out of there, so I'm sure one of the flight attendants or cleaners has a great Canon camera and had a great time looking at my pics from Disneyworld.

[Andrea]

Jillian, the same thing happened to me! I think I left my digital canon camera on the airplane, on my seat and then got off of the plane. I called AA customer service right away and they told me to contact O'Hare Airport AA Lost and Found. There, customers are only able to leave messages and they will only return your call if the item has been returned. I just wanted to speak to a ‘live’ person but I wasn't able to. I had a little hope that it would get returned but now that it has been a week and I haven't received a call, I've lost all hope and all my pictures from a wedding. Now after reading everyone's comments about the cleaning staff having first dibs, it really makes me sad! **If anyone finds a canon digital camera in a blue case, please let me know! Thank you!** ([email protected])

[Mike]

I lEFT my I pod on AA flight from Dallas to Seattle. Realized it as soon as I got past boarding. Was not allowed to go back on plane to retrieve. Told to call. I CALLED #20 TIMES! NO I POD! NO HELP! NO MORE AMERICAN AIRLINES FOR PLEASURE, BUSINESS, FRIENDS, ETC!

[Ted Johnson]

Interesting blog, Mr. Parekh. As for American Airlines lost and found, they seem to have the perfect solution--for themselves. If you leave something on the plane, they say contact the airport--and when you contact the airport, it says contact the airline. It's a very neat closed loop, so that your lost item is forever out of reach.

After I flew into Boston last week, I remembered exactly where, when, and on what flight I left my prescription glasses case. The AA website says: if you left it on the plane, contact the airport. The Logan airport lost and found office recorded message says: If you left it on the plane, contact the airline.

So things don't seem to be any better than they were at the beginning of this thread. And looking at the AA website, there's no phone number for customer relations.