On 5 October last year I flew from Toronto to Vancouver to connect with a flight to Australia. Unfortunately, I left my headphones on the aircraft. I contact Air Canda on my return to Australia. They had found the headphones. My options were to pick them up from Vancouver Airport, have them shipped to Australia or let Air Canada dispose of them. When I selected shipping to Australia it gave me a price adjusted for the exchange rate of about $500 Australian using Fedex Economy. On contacting Air Canada I was told that that was the contracted price with Fedex. Another option was to return the headphones to Toronto - that would have costed around $200 Australian. I sent a copy of a letter from a Choice member who left their ereader on a Singapore Airlines flight and Singapore Airlines returned it free of charge. I asked that the issue be passed onto an appropriate Air Canada manager to review a few montsh ago. To this point I have heard nothing back from Air Canada.
Welcome @AB100
Now I presume Air Canada flies from Vancouver to Australia. So why not that an option I ask that AC could answer if posed to them?
Seems pick up from Vancouver airport or dispose of are silly options, and ship to Australia at great expense if they fly here anyway silly too.
You may just have to write the headphones off as lost if AC donât offer to send them back you to at their time and expense. Maybe Singapore airlines do but that is up to them and only relevent to that particular circumstance and passenger.
Hi @AB100, welcome to the community.
It is unfortunate that you left your headphones on the airplane. Each airline has different policies in relation to how lost property is handled. Some airlines are more accommodating to ensure lost property is reunited with its owner. Others are not accommodating and are worse than Air Canada. Policies can also be different between seat classes, there first class passengers might be afforded different arrangements to the cheapest economy class passengers.
There will be little you can do about Air Canadaâs policy.
Lost property or property left on a plane is different to checked in baggage under the airlines control. The later is the responsibility of the airline, while lost property is the responsibility of the passenger.
If you want to be reunited with your headlights phones, an option is to get someone you know to go to the lost and found at Vancouver, and to get them to ship it to you at your cost after collection. The inconvenience for someone to do this might he more than the value of the headphones.
If you donât want to accept the return of the headphones using the methods indicated by Air Canada, there is little you can do.
Thinking further, if you have travel insurance and the headphone are worth more than the policy excess, explore whether you can make a claim against your travel insurance. You will be out of pocket the amount of the excess, rather than the full cost of the headsets.
Gregr
Air Canada flies into Brisbane and Sydney from Vancouver. I donât have a contact in Vancouver.
Why they canât fly it as air cargo and bill me should be an option.
The reason is they donât the manage lost and found, and resolving is no longer their responsibility. Their website states:
Air Canada has partnered with Chargerback to manage our Lost and Found service
This means you will be dealing with Chargerback in relation to reuniting you with your headphones. Chargerback is a commercial entity, and needs to pay for the service it provides.
Edit: Air Canada could have also handed over the lost property to airport police or other agencies. We have had experience where these other agencies (local police) wonât post or courier lost items and one must return to the place where it has been handed in if one wishes to collect it.
While Chargerback/Air Canadaâs lost property process may not be a perfect solution in everyoneâs eyes, it does allow lost property to be reunited with its owner through sending it back to a location of the ownerâs choice at the ownerâs cost - which is better than only having an option to collect it from the place it is being retained. One will need to determine if the return charges are worth it compared to the value/replacement cost of the lost item.
Well, that is something you can ask of AC. There may be export issues and customs issues involved but you need to find out if that is an option.
Since the headphones were not something under their care when you left them on the plane, they donât really have to put out much except retain them for you to arrange transport.
Nice work sherlock. Something I didnât consider. Ouch.
If you knew the $'s I spent on Air Canada air fares between 18 August and 7 October last year you would not be happy with what they expect me to pay for the headphones return. I have asked for a management contact to discuss the matter to let them know how much I spent then surely they would come to a better arrangement than $500 to return the headphones - but to this point the request to provide me with a management contact has been ignored.
As I indicated above, that is because it is in the hands of Chargerback.
You are unlikely to get any resolution with Air Canada as the management of your headphones have been passed over to Chargerback.
As you also pointed out, a lost luggage claim with the Travel Insurer or even possibly a Home and Contents insurer (depending on the policy T&Cs) may be the cheapest and easiest solution. If the headphones have a particular sentimental value, then paying the $500 may be the only way to get them back.
A $500 return fee does seem excessive to me, but it is a stated policy of the Airline to use the other business to return goods and so it may be easier to just pay an excess to get a new set of headphones. If the payment seems to be unfair, then @AB100 could make a complaint to the ACCC about the practice. Obviously the ACCC will in all likelihood not involve itself in the dispute, it may however cause it to look into the practice and cost.
ACCC complaint? 
One would possibly do better with a crowdfunding appeal. Please help me raise money to repatriate my poor headphones from Canada.
The intent for a complaint to the ACCC was not to resolve the dispute as it is almost certain they wonât get involved in single disputes about an item. What a complaint may do is help inform the ACCC about a practice and cost that could be seen as collusion or some other unfair business practice. If there are enough reasons for the ACCC to take action, this may end up with a result that reduces the cost to consumers to recover lost items in this industry. No crowdfunding needed to make the complaint and there should be no expectation as I noted that the ACCC will involve themselves in this particular case.
Thank you for pointing out that another possible avenue, is to do a crowdfunding request. Probably not likely to attract much if any interest but if not tried then ânothing ventured and nothing gainedâ. If it does succeed though, then that would be a boon to @AB100 in their situation and there may be enough sympathy for the situation to raise the money needed.
The cost of a replacement headphone (a later model) is less than the $500 fee. My main issue is the over the top fee being charged by the contractor. One of the reasons I have uploaded the issue is to let people who fly Air Canada make sure they do not leave any of their property on an Air Canada plane.
I wouldnât be surprised if Chargerback is set up more for the North American domestic market, as there are other N. American airlines which use their services and this is where the bulk of their passenger travel is.
If it is, it could explain the high cost. They arenât set up for foreign (non American) lost property reuniting. The high cost is to pay for their inconvenience.
They have also said âthat you are not just paying for shipping but for search, recovery, storage and handling of your left behind item. You are also receiving a tracking number for the secure return of the item.â
At least Air Canada collects lost property and has a system for managing it. Some airlines such as RyanAir make it clear lost property isnât their problem and airline staff are told to hand it over to airport personal. They also make it clear they accept no liability for lost items and âeach passengerâs responsibility to ensure that they carry all their belongings with them at all times when leaving the airport or the aircraft.â They arenât alone.
This applies to any airline. An airlineâs business isnât to manage lost and found property.
I checked the cost to return the headphones to Toronto - that cost was around $200 Australian Dollars. Still not cheap.
What would be some other reasons?
Now you are just having a vent at one particular airline in your experience. Do you have similar experiences with other airlines to compare with on handling lost goods?
Any of the airline (hotels, cruise boats, event venues etc) which have outsourced the management of lost property to Chargerback will have the same fees for reuniting of lost property with its owner. There appears to be a growing number of such businesses, which seem predominantly located in North America, which outsource management to Chargerback.
The message is possibly to be very careful with any personal items when travelling and ensure they are with one at all times (double check every has been packed/taken on departure from somewhere). No doing so may mean the item is lost for ever or there could be substantial fees for its return. Decisions should also be made in relation to what personal items are taken when travelling, especially those which might not be replaceable.
One shouldnât also assume a business, organisations should or agency will be responsible for ithe management and return or personal property which has been lost or left behind.
In our own business, theo occasional guest leaves something behind. We always contact them immediately when an item is found to give them the opportunity to return to collect the item(s). Possibly only a quarter return to reunite themselves with their items, about half say they were intentionally left as they no longer wanted them and the other quarter were annoyed but chose not to returned as the time/cost to return was more than the value of the item. Some items left we think have some value, only to find out after contacting our guests that they are broken or they donât want them anymore. The lesson to this is as a business we could reasonably assume any items left behind are no longer wanted by the guest. If we made this assumption we would be about 50% right and would save us considerable time and effort.
As I said in my original post the reason I uploaded the issue was that a fellow Choice member had their ereader returned by Singapore Airlines from Singapore free of charge.
I have flown Air Canada a number of times and I have travelled other international airlines using the same class. If I was to vent on Air Canada there are a number of other issues I could raise with their service based on experiences with other international airlines.
That might be correct but doesnât have much relevance to Air Canada as it is a different airline. It is worth noting Singapore Airlines states passengers are responsible for their own items (lost property) and the lost and found office at Changi Airport states passengers/owners are responsible for postage costs. A difference with your situation is the owner of the items can nominate their preferred courier for their return.
If one believes Singapore Airlines lost and found policies are more favourable, one has the choice to travel with Singapore Airlines by purchasing tickets/joining clubs to achieve these more favourable policies.
