Anyone left something on a plane at Gatwick and got it back their lost propertysystem?

littlerock

Interesting development. My son knows and can prove, his phone was on the plane two hours after he disembarked, by tracker records, which he saved. It has not been handed in. However his travel insurers say it is not covered because it was an accidental loss. Yet it has not turned up and it was on or near his seat when the plane emptied. So someone must have picked it up, probably a cleaner, who kept it, however it seems that does not count as theft. If you find and keep something somebody has lost is that theft? What is deliberate loss?

As a result of all this I looked up the cover on my EE phone which is supposed to include loss. This is what it said:

You are not covered for loss if

- you or an authorised user knowingly leave it in a place where you can’t see it but others can

- you do not report the theft to the police (local police, if abroad) and do not obtain a report or a crime reference number

- you or an authorised user knowingly leave it on display in an unattended vehicle

- you or an authorised user leave it in an unoccupied building, where the windows are not closed and doors are left unlocked

Do you think leaving it accidentally on a plane seat would be excluded by any of the clauses above?

Westin

littlerock wrote: »

Interesting development. My son knows and can prove, his phone was on the plane two hours after he disembarked, by tracker records, which he saved. It has not been handed in. However his travel insurers say it is not covered because it was an accidental loss. Yet it has not turned up and it was on or near his seat when the plane emptied. So someone must have picked it up, probably a cleaner, who kept it, however it seems that does not count as theft. If you find and keep something somebody has lost is that theft? What is deliberate loss?

As a result of all this I looked up the cover on my EE phone which is supposed to include loss. This is what it said:

You are not covered for loss if

- you or an authorised user knowingly leave it in a place where you can’t see it but others can

- you do not report the theft to the police (local police, if abroad) and do not obtain a report or a crime reference number

- you or an authorised user knowingly leave it on display in an unattended vehicle

- you or an authorised user leave it in an unoccupied building, where the windows are not closed and doors are left unlocked

Do you think leaving it accidentally on a plane seat would be excluded by any of the clauses above?

Previously you said "BTW it wasn't left in the seat pocket but was in his jacket pocket which he had over his arm and must have slipped onto the seat or possibly floor as he left the plane." and now you are sure that the cleaners have stolen it. Is that your proof beyond reasonable doubt? Do you not feel it slightly unfair to blame someone and accuse them of theft? I do. That's a strong accusation especially when as you say it could have slipped out of his jacket pocket.

It is a little mysterious that the phone tracking showed it in place for two hours afterwards. Typically the cleaning crews would be on a lot quicker and before that time to ready the aircraft for the next flight.

Perhaps the cleaners did not find it (perhaps it dropped out of the jacket pocket elsewhere in the disembarkation gate area). If two hours on the aircraft it could of possibly been discovered by the next set of cabin crew who may have discovered it during their security checks. Items found would be given to the flight dispatcher. My previous comments explain why items might not then be handed in to lost property immediately, or indeed for days. Might be worth another call to the airport lost property agents as a chance even a week later it has only recently arrived there.

Small chance the phone was not discovered until later if dropped and kicked under seats. Down route perhaps after the next flight and the crew (or cleaners) when found handing it in at another overseas airport assuming it was lost on that last flight. A mystery, unsolved perhaps.

As to your insurance. I am surprised that accidental loss is not included in the cover. Was it a cheap policy? Have you checked if household insurance might cover it?

I am sorry for your son and the loss of his phone. My daughter similarly lost her i-phone one night so I know of the faff it is to report it, try to find it and ultimately replace it. What is rattling me however is this blame game and accusations of "theft" to perhaps innocent parties. I don't think that is fair.

Hope however it is found or an insurance claim is successful.

littlerock

No he definitely knows that he left it on the plane as the tracking device on the phone showed it as being there. It may have been on the seat or on the floor. He was one of the last to leave the plane. He does not live with me and has his own phone policy which does not include accidental loss. Nor does his company travel insurance. In fact if you look up articles on line about mobile phone insurance you will find that very few phones do. There is a £250 excess on his household insurance so it makes claiming it a bit problematic.

I have told him that he should take more care over its insurance because of the cost and inconvenience of losing it.

If the phone was in the plane standing on the runway while it was turned around, it would be logical to assume it would be found by the cleaners. Yet nothing has been handed in. There are several threads here which say that is a forlorn hope at Gatwick. I was actually more concerned about what I considered a lost property system vulnerable to abuse and of which I heard bad reports. My sister in law reported watching a tv show which had uncovered not so much dishonest staff as a shady lost property system. Which is why my original post asked who had used it successfully

Finding phones were not covered for accidental loss led me to wonder if a phone can be deliberately lost? This in turn led to the fact that if you lost something and someone else finds and keeps it without attempting to return it, then this is a form of theft. In which case I wondered if legally, it should be considered theft. But if you look up the exceptions phone insurance makes for replacing a lost phone they are many and varied.

AlSto

Left my phone on the aeroplane. Cannot remember if Gatwick or Heathrow. Cannot even remember who I asked to check the plane, but report came back that cleaners found nothing....but I insisted. Within the hour the phone turned up with the aircraft supervisor. Strangely, missing buttons.

shaun_from_Africa

littlerock wrote: »

however it seems that does not count as theft. If you find and keep something somebody has lost is that theft? What is deliberate loss?

Finding something and keeping it whilst making no attempt to trace the true owner is theft.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/28/no-thing-finders-keepers-police-warn-prosecute-shopper-pocketed/