Charges for recovering lost property at airports

Backbiter

The other week my wife left her I-pad at the security check at Birmingham airport, and didn't realise until she got on the plane, by which time there was no chance of going back for it. Happily the security people found it, but lost property was shut on her return two days later. They charge £47 to courier it back to her, but even if she collects it herself they charge a £20 fee.
I was pretty taken aback by this. When I left my camera in a hire car in Ireland, there was no charge when I collected it some weeks later (thank you, Budget). I googled this charge and it appears to be pretty common.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11859626/Lost-property-rip-off-Passengers-charged-to-retrieve-own-items.html

I must be living in the past.

martindow

It must cost quite a lot to staff, store and administer lost property so I'm not surprised there are charges. I believe most companies charge based on the item's value and the time they have looked after it.

Presumably it is well worth paying to get an ipad back.

Doshwaster

I got let off without a charge at Gatwick recently when I stupidly left a rucksack on the carpark transfer bus. The bag only made it to Lost Property 5 minutes before I got there and they hadn't got around to entering it into their system.

agrinnall

Lost property is really no different to left luggage, and you would expect to pay a charge for that. Luggage Point, who run the left luggage facility at BHX (and I think they also do lost property) charge £8 per day or £48 per week for a small case/item, so the £20 charge doesn't seem too far out of line given that there will have been extra admin with items of lost property.

http://luggage-point.co.uk/left-luggage

wdw2003

I had to pay £28 a few years ago to get an ipad sent back from Heathrow after leaving it on a plane. I was just so relieved and surprised that it was handed in, that I didn't mind the charge.


One thing I noticed, though, was that it didn't appear in the online description of found goods, or the description was completely wrong. I only got it by phoning and speaking to someone who did a manual check. I've always wondered if those wrongly described items were sold at mates rates after not being collected.

jpsartre

Backbiter wrote: »

They charge £47 to courier it back to her, but even if she collects it herself they charge a £20 fee.

Seems fair enough to me.

London50

Doshwaster wrote: »

I got let off without a charge at Gatwick recently when I stupidly left a rucksack on the carpark transfer bus.

Very lucky in today's climate that it was not blown up by the bomb squad;)

stoneman

I left an ipad at PHL AAdmirals lounge. It got handed into AA's customer service desk down by the carousels and I picked it up a week later. Charge £0.00
You gotta love American Airlines

dawyldthing

wdw2003 wrote: »

I had to pay £28 a few years ago to get an ipad sent back from Heathrow after leaving it on a plane. I was just so relieved and surprised that it was handed in, that I didn't mind the charge.


One thing I noticed, though, was that it didn't appear in the online description of found goods, or the description was completely wrong. I only got it by phoning and speaking to someone who did a manual check. I've always wondered if those wrongly described items were sold at mates rates after not being collected.

It's probably because it's a high value item and if they said they had been handed in then people will start phoning in to claim them