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Left iPad on a plane

stevelee5
Explorer C

Flight 508 from Chicago (MDW) to Phoenix (PHX) arrived at 7:29 pm on Monday, May 27th at Gate C12 at Phoenix (PHX). I don't usually post on the forum (this is actually my first time) but I feel the need to do so because of the experience that I've had this past week during my travel from Pittsburgh to Oregon.

 

Long story short, I left my iPad on flight 508 from Chicago to Phoenix in the front seat of the pocket when I got off. However, I didn't leave it there by accident, but because I thought I would be getting back on the same flight due to the miscommunication that occurred via an announcement made by the attendant. The transfer flight was arranged the last minute (because of multiple delays and the airline decided to put me on a flight that takes 3 extra stops instead of 1) so I had to rush to the next gate, which was when I realized I left the iPad on the previous flight. I couldn't go back to the previous gate because the next flight was about it leave, so I made the online lost and found request claim form on the spot and submitted it.

 

It is now Saturday and this incident happened this past Monday, and I am shocked that the item has not been recovered yet, even though I've provided a very detailed description of the item along with the serial number of the device (I've also set the find my iPhone alert to "lost" so whenever it connects to the internet it should pop up and make a noise.).

 

When I booked this flight, I did it because my friend HIGHLY recommended it, but my experience so far (flight delays and how the airline rearranged flights were taken care of, along with this current situation of STILL not being able to find an iPad) with the Southwest airline made me lose my faith in the airline altogether.

 

But most importantly, this device contains information that I need for my work ASAP and I feel like the airline is not even putting the effort to find this device - I've only been "status-updated", which is just an automatic email sent by a machine; it would be nice to have some sort of detailed info on what is current situation is.

 

Thanks for reading this and I hope I get some help from this forum. If any of you guys (customers) had a similar experience, please comment below so we could at least talk about this issue as a community and not just wait for the automatic-status-update-emails.

 

Item report number is 1556452.

5 REPLIES 5

Re: Left iPad on a plane

SWDigits
Aviator A
Solution
I'm another Southwest customer but active here in the discussion boards and others in your shoes have shared successful reunions, especially when entering the serial number like you did -- see these threads, where it looks like the folks had updates in about 10 days:

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/General-Travel-Policies/Left-laptop-on-plane/m-p/91711/high...

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/General-Travel-Policies/Left-laptop-on-plane-Microsoft-Surf...

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/General-Travel-Policies/Lost-and-found/m-p/81442/highlight/...

If you search the discussion forum for "serial number" you should be able to find additional examples.

If you're able to post an update here it will help others to know of your situation was resolved.

Good luck!

Customer | Home airport DCA

Re: Left iPad on a plane

dfwskier
Aviator A
Solution

Sorry to hear that you had a poor travel experience.

 

Southwest doesn;t have the resources to personally track down "lost" items. Why?  There are too many of them. If just 1 out 1000  people filed a lost item report last year, then 160,000 items were reported lost. Southwest uses a system which works in many cases. Found  items are shipped

to a central location in Alabama. At the location found items are matched with lost item reports. When there's a match, items are returned.

 

You did the right thing by filing a lost item report, and increased the probability that you're item will be returned by including  a serial number. Now you have to wait. 

 

Hope you get your item back. 

Re: Left iPad on a plane

stevelee5
Explorer C

Wow! Couple days after I posted this, I got an email saying that the item has been found along with an intruction on how to get it back, which was to provide the shipping address and pay the shipment... Long story short, I GOT IT BACK 😄

 

For those who lost their items, give them at least 10 days, along with a serial number in the form, because I think it takes time for them to gather the items and send back to the central location, which is where they sort the items and try to match them up to the claims that were made.

 

Honestly, I thought the other posts were not true, but... they definitely were and I'm now one of those people writing a post about returned item 🙂

 

Thanks Southwest!

Re: Left iPad on a plane

SWDigits
Aviator A
Thanks for circling back, I've found the discussions to be a good way to share knowledge and experiences, both good and bad.

Customer | Home airport DCA

Re: Left iPad on a plane

DancingDavidE
Aviator A
Solution

I don't have it in front of me, but you can find the number for the facility in Scottsboro, AL - can you see the device on FindMyiPhone yet?

 

The serial number seems to be the key in making a match, but also if the device is powered up and you can ping it when you call them they can verify it is yours. Hours are daytime only to call.

 

For it to show up in lost and found though, it has to be turned in which could be an issue if the plane was still occupied if I'm understanding the situation, so a fellow passenger would have had first chance to find it instead of a cleaning crew.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.