Lost property on Q: and where did the plane go next??

[Lynnelanne]

Hi. I’m hoping someone out there might be able to help. You would certainly be more help than Qantas because their help is zero.

My partner, who is getting elderly, left his iPad and glasses case in the seat pocket on the plane yesterday. More importantly, his hearing aids were in the glasses case and he is stone deaf. They cost about $6000 and my life is foul when he can’t hear anything so yes I’m self interested in this one.

I phoned Qantas domestic Lost property and they have only got an answering machine where you have to leave your details and they say they will ring you back if they find anything. I have zero confidence of ever hearing from them. A tweet lead to the same non-human phone number. We will go to the actual airport tomorrow and see what we can do, but in the meantime, I’m seeking input from the herd brain here.

It seems to be a mystery, what happens in terms of cleaning from what I have read on this site. I am not sure if the pockets would’ve been checked before the plane went on to the next location. I know there must be an app out there somewhere that tells me where the flight went next, but if anybody could share that that would be great because all I can find is apps that tell you where the flight was before.

In utter frustration, I will be pitifully grateful for any advice people can give. TIA

 

[defurax]

Flight Radar 24 (FR24) has that information. Might require a subscription though, so if you post the flight number I'll be able to post the info you are looking for.

 

[BD1959]

Flight Radar 24 (FR24) has that information. Might require a subscription though, so if you post the flight number I'll be able to post the info you are looking for.

FR24 does indeed provide that information without subscription. eg I saw that VH-VYD operated QF402 this morning and then went on to operate QF415 to MEL:



Regards,

BD

 

[Pushka]

Hi. I’m hoping someone out there might be able to help. You would certainly be more help than Qantas because their help is zero.

My partner, who is getting elderly, left his iPad and glasses case in the seat pocket on the plane yesterday. More importantly, his hearing aids were in the glasses case and he is stone deaf. They cost about $6000 and my life is foul when he can’t hear anything so yes I’m self interested in this one.

I phoned Qantas domestic Lost property and they have only got an answering machine where you have to leave your details and they say they will ring you back if they find anything. I have zero confidence of ever hearing from them. A tweet lead to the same non-human phone number. We will go to the actual airport tomorrow and see what we can do, but in the meantime, I’m seeking input from the herd brain here.

It seems to be a mystery, what happens in terms of cleaning from what I have read on this site. I am not sure if the pockets would’ve been checked before the plane went on to the next location. I know there must be an app out there somewhere that tells me where the flight went next, but if anybody could share that that would be great because all I can find is apps that tell you where the flight was before.

In utter frustration, I will be pitifully grateful for any advice people can give. TIA

is his iPad registered to your account or his and you can see where it is using the ‘Find My’ app. That’s how I found my iPad that I left on a Qatar flight. I could see which airport it had been offloaded and went from there. Qatar were very helpful. Used tweets.

 

[tgh]

You may not find the aids this time but there are some useful things you can do for the future.
Insure them against loss for the full replacement value including programming by the audi
Down load the find my aid app as it will permit tracking an aid within bluetooth range as long as it has battery power
Attach an apple air tag to things like hearing aid pouches or glasses cases so they can be tracked almost anywhere and recovered

 

[Brissy1]

Did you check at the airport? Left my collapsible umbrella on a qf plane at Brisbane once, a black one I said, take your pick he said!

"Lost property information
Any property found on Qantas aircraft is sent to Qantas Baggage Services or Qantas Administration at the airport where the property was found"

 

[Lynnelanne]

Flight Radar 24 (FR24) has that information. Might require a subscription though, so if you post the flight number I'll be able to post the info you are looking for.

Thank you so much. That tells me the plane went on to Adelaide. A useful piece of knowledge as it was evidently in Melbourne for a while beforehand….long enough to be cleaned anyway.

Post automatically merged: Mar 28, 2023

Flight Radar 24 (FR24) has that information. Might require a subscription though, so if you post the flight number I'll be able to post the info you are looking for.

Flight Radar 24 (FR24) has that information. Might require a subscription though, so if you post the flight number I'll be able to post the info you are looking for.

Thank you so much. That tells me the plane went on to Adelaide. A useful piece of knowledge as it was evidently in Melbourne for a while beforehand….long enough to be cleaned anyway.

Post automatically merged: Mar 28, 2023

FR24 does indeed provide that information without subscription. eg I saw that VH-VYD operated QF402 this morning and then went on to operate QF415 to MEL:
View attachment 321171


Regards,

BD

Hi, thanks for that. The website gave me exactly the information I needed…the flight sat in Melbourne long enough to have a reasonable clean, and then went on to Adelaide.

 

[Lynnelanne]

is his iPad registered to your account or his and you can see where it is using the ‘Find My’ app. That’s how I found my iPad that I left on a Qatar flight. I could see which airport it had been offloaded and went from there. Qatar were very helpful. Used tweets.

Thanks, yes I’ve done all that. I logged into his ’Icloud’ and used ‘find my’. it tells me nothing other than that the Ipad has not been connected to the internet. It did allow me to leave my phone number and a message on the ipad for anyone who tries to turn it on.

Can I ask, how did it tell you at which airport it had been offloaded? Because in the case of his ipad, as I said, it doesn’t tell me anything because it’s not connected to the internet.

Qantas are not helpful at all unfortunately, and I’ve used tweets and every other form of communication known to humanity apart from physically going to the airport.

 

[Lynnelanne]

You may not find the aids this time but there are some useful things you can do for the future.
Insure them against loss for the full replacement value including programming by the audi
Down load the find my aid app as it will permit tracking an aid within bluetooth range as long as it has battery power
Attach an apple air tag to things like hearing aid pouches or glasses cases so they can be tracked almost anywhere and recovered

Yes, 20/20 hindsight is useful. I have used ‘Find My’….it doesn‘t tell you much unless the item is connected to the internet (In relation to the ipad). We have AirTags in suitcases and on the car etc., but not his hearing aids. Guess it’s getting to the stage where I should AirTag every single thing he owns.

Post automatically merged: Mar 28, 2023

Did you check at the airport? Left my collapsible umbrella on a qf plane at Brisbane once, a black one I said, take your pick he said!

"Lost property information
Any property found on Qantas aircraft is sent to Qantas Baggage Services or Qantas Administration at the airport where the property was found"

That’s good to know, thank you. The only problem is that it is actually impossible to phone Melbourne airport Qantas Baggage Services, or lost property. You can only leave a message. So we’ll have to go out there, a 1.5 hour drive each way. So much for modern technology.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

In the very sad end, it goes to auction doesnt it?
I mean if QF does not make a real effort to find and try to return items.

 

[Lynnelanne]

A happy update for everyone. We went out to the airport and got all the items back, so it was a good outcome with the effort of going 1.5 hours each way to the airport. In terms of process, there is absolutely no way to contact a human being without going to the airport, which is kind of 1970’s. I tried everything.

At the airport the guy there was helpful but at the same time the general attitude was ‘well you shouldn’t have left it there’. Lacking any emotional intelligence, when I opened with how critical this was for us, (hoping to get some buy in) he responded with ‘I don’t need to know about that‘….uh, thanks. Anyway he warmed up as we continued to communicate and immediately found the glasses case. Interestingly he said the hearing aids weren’t in there, but they were in there: so they must have had a very perfunctory look. This was the reason he gave that nobody returned my call left on the only option message service.

Then there was the ipad. That was interesting because there must have been hundreds of iPhones, iPads and other devices there including a brand new looking very expensive tablet of some other brand. I said ‘wow, someone will want that back’ and he said ‘clearly not as they haven’t come here to get it’. The thing is, the owner could have literally gone anywhere in the world afterward, but the general mindset out there is definitely, if you don’t go out to the airport you can not expect to ever see your item again and they won’t ring you back even if they do find it.
So, leaving this info here for anyone in the future who is in the same situation. Go to the airport, otherwise you will never see the item again.

 

[Mr H]

Go to the airport, otherwise you will never see the item again.

Glad you got yout things back.

I remember heading off on holiday, maybe ten years ago. Flew MEL-SYD-HKG-PEK. I had bought a new leather hat for the holiday but left it in the overhead bin on the domestic leg. I only realised when I got to the international terminal. There was nobody to ask about it and I just accepted its loss - so a hatless holiday . This sort of thing must happen so often, yet there is no obvious process to go through to reuinte people with their stuff, even when it would theoretically still be easy to do so.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

On the QF lost property website info, they put out the vibe that its on the onus (as in the job) of the items owner to contact them, accepting what OP has related, so they (QF) do not make an effort to contact owners, or to put out a huge list of lost items.

 

[RooFlyer]

but the general mindset out there is definitely, if you don’t go out to the airport you can not expect to ever see your item again and they won’t ring you back even if they do find it.

Glad you had the good outcome . Unfortunately, if it happened to be found at the end of, say, the next flight, then presumably it will be sitting at that other airport, waiting for you to turn up.

 

[cmbhome]

In a bygone era I left a handheld dictation machine in a seat pocket on an Ansett 767. It had my name on it. Before I even arrived at my first appointment, Ansett had called to say it had been found (In BRS, while I was now in SYD). They asked where I was staying. The device was at my hotel by lunchtime - via an Ansett courier. No charge. OK I was a high miler in Golden Wing, but that service was unprecedented. Those were the days.

 

[jpp42]

the general mindset out there is definitely, if you don’t go out to the airport you can not expect to ever see your item again and they won’t ring you back even if they do find it.

This doesn't need to be that way. I left a small shopping bag on an SQ flight from India to SIN once - filed a lost property report at the SIN baggage office and was told it couldn't be retrieved in the next few hours before my next flight, but they would happily send it on to my final destination. If I recall, for some reason I was on a different PNR on a non-SQ airline to Sydney, probably QF, but when I told the SQ baggage office this, they said no problems, we'll send it on the next SQ flight to Sydney. A day or two later, I got an email saying it had arrived and detailed information about how to visit the lost property desk at Sydney International (which was operated by one of the contractors such as Menzies). Item retrieved without hassle.

 

[Pushka]

A happy update for everyone. We went out to the airport and got all the items back, so it was a good outcome with the effort of going 1.5 hours each way to the airport. In terms of process, there is absolutely no way to contact a human being without going to the airport, which is kind of 1970’s. I tried everything.

At the airport the guy there was helpful but at the same time the general attitude was ‘well you shouldn’t have left it there’. Lacking any emotional intelligence, when I opened with how critical this was for us, (hoping to get some buy in) he responded with ‘I don’t need to know about that‘….uh, thanks. Anyway he warmed up as we continued to communicate and immediately found the glasses case. Interestingly he said the hearing aids weren’t in there, but they were in there: so they must have had a very perfunctory look. This was the reason he gave that nobody returned my call left on the only option message service.

Then there was the ipad. That was interesting because there must have been hundreds of iPhones, iPads and other devices there including a brand new looking very expensive tablet of some other brand. I said ‘wow, someone will want that back’ and he said ‘clearly not as they haven’t come here to get it’. The thing is, the owner could have literally gone anywhere in the world afterward, but the general mindset out there is definitely, if you don’t go out to the airport you can not expect to ever see your item again and they won’t ring you back even if they do find it.
So, leaving this info here for anyone in the future who is in the same situation. Go to the airport, otherwise you will never see the item again.

Such narrow assumptions to presume that as you say everyone can simply trot back to the airport.

 

[BD1959]

Good to hear of a positive outcome Lynnelanne however hate to think what would have happened if the items hadn't been found until - say - ADL ... yes, AirTags on *everything* for me going forward!

Post automatically merged: Mar 30, 2023

Such narrow assumptions to presume that as you say everyone can simply trot back to the airport.

... or that the items are in a Lost Property office at an airport handy to trot back to ...

Regards,

BD

 

[Lynnelanne]

Glad you had the good outcome . Unfortunately, if it happened to be found at the end of, say, the next flight, then presumably it will be sitting at that other airport, waiting for you to turn up.

Exactly. And being as we are talking about a TRANSIT HUB d’uh, then yes, this assumption becomes mInd-bogglingly stupid. In reality therefore, the Qantas process for returning lost property is only one step short of throwing it in the bin IMHO.

Post automatically merged: Mar 30, 2023

This doesn't need to be that way. I left a small shopping bag on an SQ flight from India to SIN once - filed a lost property report at the SIN baggage office and was told it couldn't be retrieved in the next few hours before my next flight, but they would happily send it on to my final destination. If I recall, for some reason I was on a different PNR on a non-SQ airline to Sydney, probably QF, but when I told the SQ baggage office this, they said no problems, we'll send it on the next SQ flight to Sydney. A day or two later, I got an email saying it had arrived and detailed information about how to visit the lost property desk at Sydney International (which was operated by one of the contractors such as Menzies). Item retrieved without hassle.

Hmm yes, but that is SQ and not Q. More’s the pity.

 

[Seat0B]

A happy update for everyone. We went out to the airport and got all the items back, so it was a good outcome with the effort of going 1.5 hours each way to the airport. In terms of process, there is absolutely no way to contact a human being without going to the airport, which is kind of 1970’s. I tried everything.

At the airport the guy there was helpful but at the same time the general attitude was ‘well you shouldn’t have left it there’. Lacking any emotional intelligence, when I opened with how critical this was for us, (hoping to get some buy in) he responded with ‘I don’t need to know about that‘….uh, thanks. Anyway he warmed up as we continued to communicate and immediately found the glasses case. Interestingly he said the hearing aids weren’t in there, but they were in there: so they must have had a very perfunctory look. This was the reason he gave that nobody returned my call left on the only option message service.

Then there was the ipad. That was interesting because there must have been hundreds of iPhones, iPads and other devices there including a brand new looking very expensive tablet of some other brand. I said ‘wow, someone will want that back’ and he said ‘clearly not as they haven’t come here to get it’. The thing is, the owner could have literally gone anywhere in the world afterward, but the general mindset out there is definitely, if you don’t go out to the airport you can not expect to ever see your item again and they won’t ring you back even if they do find it.
So, leaving this info here for anyone in the future who is in the same situation. Go to the airport, otherwise you will never see the item again.

So glad you got all your things back. But could you please tell me which airport did you go to? the one where your hubby's flight ended? Where he started out? The next leg of the flight?