Maybe a bit of background on my lost property issue. On boarding the plane in Toronto I placed my backpack in the locker above my seat. Due to the amount of hand luggage brought onto the plane crew were trying to find spaces for the hand luggage. In the process my backpack was moved to another overhead locker away from my seat to fit a larger bag from another part of the plane. In preparation for landing in Vancouver I packed my headphone in its case and placed it in the pocket of the seat in front. In the confusion of trying to collect my backpack from another part of the plane I forgot about the headphones. While walking to our transit lounge for our flight to Australia I realised that I had left the headphones behind. When arriving at the transit lounge I spoke to the Air Canada staff member on duty and explained the situation and asked if the headphones could be retrieved and returned to me. We had around a 3 hour wait for the next flight. No one from Air Canada got back to me about my request to look for the headphones.
So the issue seems to be that you believe Air Canada is responsible for your lost headphones. This isnāt the case and it is unfortunate that you left them on the plane. I would be really annoyed to.
The headphones were aways under your control and it is a passengers responsibility to ensure items are taken when departing. Some airlines we have travelled even provide a reminder announcement when taxiing to the terminal, to take all personal items. This is done as there are a lot of items left on aircraft every year.
I do feel for you in leaving the headphones on the plane. I have only left one item on a domestic flight, an Akubra, and forgot to get it from the overhead locker as was night time. It took until the next day able to retrieve it from the arrival airport lost and found. The plane cleaners took it off the plane, it was handed to the airline some time after it was found (maybe end of the cleaning crew shift) who them passed it onto lost and found. It has a flight number label attached to it and I had to prove who I was so they knew I was on that flight.
Airports are very busy places with a focus to turn around planes. Air Canada canāt be expected to ādropā what they are doing to specifically try and find something lost by one of its passengers. This is an unreasonable expectation as searching for lost property is likely to impact on the ability to meet departure schedules (impacting on a large number of passengers) and at cost to the airline (penalties for now meeting assigned departure windows).
Yes, I understand the point you keep pushing that the headphones were under my control. My issues are:
- I notified Air Canada staff at the transit lounge that I had left the headphones in the pocket of seat 13C on the Toronto to Vancouver flight within 10 minutes of us leaving that flight. They said they would look into it. At no point during the at least 3 hour timeframe from when I notified Air Canada staff and we boarded our flight to Australia did any member of staff contact me to say they found them, did not find them or tell me the process to return them, if found, at a later date to me.
- Confirmation that the item had been found very quickly after I uploaded a missing item request.
- The over the top fee that I had to pay to have the item returned.
For point 1, as indicated by my own experience, it can many hours (overnight) for lost property to be in a position that it is available to be reunited with a passenger. It is an unreasonable expectation that airport personnel should ādropā what they are doing and specially search for a passengerās lost item. It is possible that the item may never be found (such as it was taken by someone) which means that time spent trying to find it was wasted. The impacts of diverting staff to look for every passenger who lost something would be significant. I expect that Air Canada didnāt commit to getting back to you when you are at the airport. Their priorities would have been elsewhere and they would have known that there is a process in managing lost property.
For dot point 2, it appears that while the fees for Chargerback are considered high, their process works as it found your lost item.
For dot point 3, for a layperson the costs seem high, but as I outlined above, Chargerback are a independent company which services need to be paid for. They also indicated where the costs lie which was posted above. It is worth noting that TNT which can do overnight Brisbane Airport to Perth Airport (which would be similar to Vancouver to Toronto) for a 1kg box on a commercial rate is AUD144.53. If one adds on cost of handling by another party to get it underway (management of the lost item), the price wouldnāt be dissimilar to Chargerback Fedex price you have been quoted. Yes there may be cheaper couriers or postal options, but this takes time and effort to manage each and every lost item separately trying to find the cheapest price.
It is unfortunate you find yourself in this position, but the take home message is to ensure that one keeps abreast of all their personal items when travelling. Not doing so could mean they are lost forever or be expensive to be reunited with them.
I must admit that sitting beside the service desk for 3 hours they appeared very busy, chatting with each other and stepping behind the counter for a coffee and a chat. The first person I spoke to should have known the system and said to me that the headphones would not be able to be found and returned before my flight left and then tell me that I would have t put a claim in when I arrived back in Australia instead of telling me I will look into it.
I think you are too polite and trusting that the customer service person you spoke to would actually do anything. I would have been bugging them every 10 minutes, and if they fobbed me off get a supervisor involved. Maybe add a degree of urgency into the problem for them to deal with. Like there was also some medication in the headphone bag. I have no problems with little white lies to get something done.
All it takes is a phone call to the cabin cleaning team to look for an item left behind in a certain seat and when found call back, or just walk it up to the service desk. Not hard.
Doesnāt help you now, but nobody should accept poor customer service like that.
The counter staff are usually to field questions, assist passengers about airport issues (directions, transfers, check-ins etc) and be pleasant. Many of these are unlikely to have clearance to enter secure areas of the airport such as aircraft, luggage and tarmac areas. They rely on others to do the legwork for any inquiries they canāt deal with - namely passing the issue onto someone else to deal with. If they are well managed, they might also prioritise actions depending on urgency and resource availability. An example being a lost child would be a high priority, whereby a lost item is likely to be a low priority (even though a passenger might think otherwise).
Of course, I understand that the service agent I spoke to would not leave the desk, go to the gate where I arrived and enter the plane. I would have thought the service agent would have the knowledge and ability to contact an appropriate Air Canada officer that could follow-up on my lost item. If not, tell me so, not say I will look into it.
From my perspective your original post was explanatory that you were making it known about your experience with ACs customer service or lack thereof, while comparing one aspect to SG that is perennially recognised as one of the best.
Businesses and airlines have the freedom to treat their customers as they wish, more or less depending on legislation where they operate as well as their own governance.
As for shipping costs I regularly get < 500g goods from the US and shipping is usually between $USD6 (DHL Global) to $USD45 (USPS) but have had quotes in the $USD140 range. I do not do business with the latter because I have a choice to āshop elsewhereā unlike the take it or leave it you were presented with.
Basically AC can conduct its business as it sees fit and train its staff as it sees fit that reflects their corporate face. The ambit cost to get your headphones back may be a way to communicate āwe really do not want to help you but we will for a high enough priceā; regardless whether that comes from AC or Chargerback it reflects on AC and similarly other Chargerback clients.
I hope there is understanding of how lost and found sometimes gets implemented and at least one AC pax is more inclined to watch their carry on items more closely as a result of your experience. Your closing line says it all, ie ājust be honest with meā and most of us will deal with it. However with the increasing number of feral pax I can understand avoiding potential confrontations in the terminal might be a priority.
Iāll close the topic as there seems little more to be added; if you would like to have it re-opened please send me a personal message (click my avatar and then the āmessageā button if you are unfamiliar).
