Lost and Bound
 

I recently took American Airlines flight 196 from San Francisco to Boston. I only had carry on luggage - a laptop bag and a roll-on. At the gate I removed all of the items I would not need on the flight from my laptop bag and placed them in the roll-on. I boarded the plane, stowed my roll on in the overhead rack and placed my laptop bag under the seat in front of me.

Toward the end of the boarding process a flight attendant announced that they had found "some electronics" in the gate area. A few moments later she announced that these included a motorola phone. In a third announcement she gave one of the names in the phone directory (no one that I recognized). Finally she announced that these items would be left behind.

I had no reason to suspect that these items were mine. It would have been difficult to check my roll-on luggage..but I should have.

I got back to Boston and found that my camera and my cell phone were missing.

I notified AA immediately and was told to contact lost and found at San Francisco airport. I have done that...never get an answer or reply. I have also emailed them...and again no reply.

I have called AA almost every day since that event. Sometimes "someone" makes a call or two...other times (like today) they basically say...too bad. Never once any sort of...sorry.

I am getting the feeling that this is a lost cause... but I also feel like I should be persistent. Yes it's ultimately my fault for leaving the items at the gate..and then for not checking (however, the number given on the phone was not mine). On the other hand, American Airlines last had MY belongings in THEIR possession. I have several witnesses that heard them say that they had these things.

The lost and found office at SFO states that they would inform you if the missing articles were turned in to them.

SOMEONE has my cell phone and camera, and I know that it's not me.

Yes, I can replace these items, but is this how airlines treat their loyal customers? I used to fly about 50,000 miles a year on American. No more.

Any ideas about what I can do to get some action on getting my camera and phone back?

Unfortunately, the lost and found departments on just about any airline is more loss, less find and AA is no different.

In fairness to the GA, s/he did make couple of announcments, so s/he was trying. What happened to the stuff later? who knows?

AA is pretty good about locating lost luggage, but individual items left on planes (I know this is somewhat different scenario), usually are gone for good. The reason? AA contracts cleaners at most if not all airports. These are the people that get on planes after arrival and they are the ones that find stuff. It has been my experience that they usually don't turn the left behind items to L&F.

Only once out of about 5 times I was actually contacted by LAX L&F and it was about 6 weeks after with good news. The other times, I just accepted the fact that it's part of life.

What can you do? Do you have homeowners insurance? that may be a possibility.

You can also be persitent with AA CS, but at the end the chances of you getting your stuff back are very slim. AA may throw a voucher or some miles your way, but that's about it.

If you do know the witnesses and they are willing to help you, I suppose you can take AA to small claims court, but also realize that the witnesses can only testify to the fact that the announcment was made, but can they testify that they know for sure the stuff belonged to you? I'm not saying you're lying, all I'm saying that the defending lawyer could say that you realized later that there may be something for you if you claim the stuff was yours.

In any event,

Good luck!

1st post to bash American Airlines.

You left your stuff behind. They tried four times to give it to you. You didn't take it.

You should keep calling to try to locate your stuff but in the end it was your fault and AA is not to blame.

Wouldn't the items have been turned over to the airport lost and found? I don't see how this is AA's problem. You left the stuff in the gate area - not on the plane - and an airline is not responsible for it after they've turned it in to L&F.

I guess I'd be focusing on SFO, rather than harassing AA. If AA is willing to give you something, I'm going to start calling them too and complaining that I lost stuff and want to be compensated.

It seems that it is becoming a tradition that ones very first post must be a bashing of AA.

I haven't flown AA in ages but I too have noticed the AA bashing, especially by first time posters. A coincidence? It is shall I say strange.

1st post could be a troll....I would say cancel the phone service, bend over and kiss your flying walnuts goodbye :)

Perhaps I misread the OP, but you appear to have said that the items were placed in your roll-on, which you placed in the overhead bins. How did they get from the overhead bins to the gate area?

If you just left them laying around the gate area, an area that is not secured, then perhaps you should accept the consequences of your negligence. Motorola cells thousands if not millions of phones, so I don't think you have much in the way of conclusive evidence that the phone AA found was yours.

I suggest that you contact you cell phone service provider and see if the phone is still in use, as they will be billing you for that usage. If the phone is not in use, try calling it during business hours and hope someone answers and tells you where your things are.

I remember walking through security at the Orlando airport and placing my keys in a container and forgetting to pick them up. On the flight to LAX, I went to the toilet (guess I do that a lot) and noticed no keys. I called the Orlando airport from LAX and told them and they held on to them until I got back from Australia.

Now, I always put keys, coins, cameras, etc., in my backpack going through security.