This is probably a long shot by now, but my husband left his favorite jacket in the overhead bin on a July 30 Delta flight from SFO to ATL. He realized that he had left it within a few minutes of the time he deplaned, but unfortunately the plane had already moved from the gate by the time he returned - they said it was immediately moved to the tarmac, because another arrival needed the gate.

It was a connecting flight for him - he had a five hour layover before departing on another plane for Europe. Delta gave him a phone number to call, but said he would have to wait until he returned (he had another ATL layover on his return August 12). They assured him the jacket would be in some sort of lost and found at the airport, and he would have no problem getting it back. Hah!

He tried calling the number while at ATL on Aug 12, but was on hold for over a half hour, and finally had to board his flight out. He has since tried calling four times, with the same result --- just left on hold indefinitely with bad music playing.

Not sure if there's still a chance he might retrieve the jacket. It's not the end of the world if he can't, but it's a nice jacket and was one of his favorites. It's probably not replaceable, as he bought it a few years ago in another state from where we live.

He saved his boarding pass, so has seat number and flight info.

Anybody have any ideas as to who/where to write or call (and actually speak to a customer service person)?

Or maybe we should just keep our eye out for it on Ebay ...

You would have better odds buying a lottery ticket and using the winnings to purchase a replacement jacket. Seriously.

That's exactly what we thought, Seamus ...

I think most airlines give a plane at least a rudimentary cleaning between flights, so I would guess they found the jacket in Atlanta and sent it to the lost property office, where it lies in a pile with thousands of other items.

I would be very surprised if they had enough people there to comb through a very large pile looking for a nice jacket; I think the most you could hope for would be that you could go to Atlanta and look through the pile yourself.

So the advice to chalk this up to experience and buy a new jacket is good.

As for the bad music they play while you are on hold, that is absolutely unconscionable; you should write your congressional representatives and get something about that added to the proposed passengers' bill of rights!

I've been in lost and found at an airport before. Everything was pretty much cataloged by date. You should be able to contact the lost and found at Atlanta, give them the date and description and see if it's there.

I lost a newish $600 pair of Rx eyeglasses in almost same circumstances and no luck there either.

In comparison, my wife lost her glasses on the LIRR, a busy comuter rail line. The RR put her in contact with the people at the end of the line who located the glasses and held them for her to pick up.

Airlines don't even accept responsibility for checked baggage so asking them for unchecked/carry on baggage is reaching for the impossible.

I think there is a saying ,,, 'whistling Dixe'?