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ITEM LEFT BEHIND ON LUFTHANSA FLIGHT
➜ LUGANOPIRATE
Arriving in Frankfurt from Johannesburg with Lufthansa, and in Mrs LP’s hurry to get off the plane (as we expected long queues at immigration while we showed our Covid forms), I managed to leave my Samsung tablet in the seat pocket.
I only realised at security but by then it was too late to go back. I asked in the lounge and was directed to a website where I had to fill in a form. To cut a long story short I just received an email saying it was found and giving me the option to collect it in person or have it couriered to me. I was astounded to see it will cost me €138.59 (US$160) with sending costs, admin fee, credit card fee and VAT!
This compares with precisely nothing when I did the same thing on an internal flight in South Africa. I had it back in just 40 minutes and for some reason naively thought it would be as fast and efficient at Frankfurt.
The lesson, I guess, is to double-check every seat pocket before getting off and not be rushed by anyone.
➜ GIUSEPPE
Someone has to bear the costs of shipping. In this case, I see no faults by the carrier. All airlines are using third parties to forward items to customers. I forgot a jacket on board an Emirates flight a couple of years ago and I spent €80 (US$93) to get it back. Same options: to be collected in person or shipping.
➜ STEVEN
Flight in first class from Chicago O’Hare International to Frankfurt connecting to Edinburgh. On arrival in Frankfurt I was handed my blue blazer by one of the flight attendants. On arrival in the First Class Terminal, where I had an approximately 3.5 hour connection, I discovered that I had been handed the wrong blue blazer (his grandmother’s matzo ball soup recipe in the inside pocket alerted me). I recalled a fellow passenger with a similar blazer across the aisle and my assumption was that we each had been given the wrong item. The staff at the terminal tracked the passenger down to find that he had travelled about 45 minutes from the airport. They took his blazer and rushed it to his location, exchanged the item and delivered my blazer to me. Exceptional service by Lufthansa staff and two very happy passengers.
➜ ASK1945
A few years back I arrived home from Singapore and, as I went up to my front door, I realised that I didn’t have my keys. I had no idea where on this journey I might have lost them. I used our daughter’s copy to get in and had a new set cut.
Ten days later a courier turned up at my front door with my keys. Apparently, they had falle
