Copy that!

Hello
I have been dealing with NWA for 3 weeks now, and all I get is “there is nothing else NWA can do”, after you read my complaint, hopefully you can give me a pointers, as I don’t know what to do anymore.

Monday – July 27, 2009, Orlando – Memphis – Omaha flight.
Upon immediatly leaving the aircraft in Memphis for our next leg to Omaha, I discovered we left our IPods on the seat. We were seated in the very last row of the aircraft, we were the last two passengers to depart the plane. The Ipods were left in a big black case, with our name clearly on the outside, the plane was not going on, but staying in Memphis.
We asked the flight attendant on the next plane if they would call and assist us, and they said no, (the next leg was grounded at least 30 minutes due to mechnical problems), I told the attendant what happened, and they frowned and said “well, contact Lost and Found in Omaha and see if they could help, but they doubt it”. We went directly to Lost & Found in Omaha, when we landed, and the gentleman there said, “I will call Memphis, but good luck, they are probably gone”, cleaning crews usually pick up that type of stuff”. NWA called around 11:30 pm and told us they Memphis didn’t find them.

I then wrote an email to NWA explaining our circumstance, and more or less was told “too bad”. Wrote again, and they offered us 2 – $50.00 flight coupons. I don’t want the flight coupons, I would like reimbursment for our I Pods, as they are worth around $300. I would expect someone on that flight, being the cleaning crew or the attendants had to see the case and kept it. When we were the last to depart the flight, and then several NWA employees telling us “good luck” in getting them back, really dismays me. I accept I left them on the plane, but I do expect someone to turn them into Lost & Found. If something was left at my place of business, I would certainly hope it would be given back, I expect the same from the airline. I have now hear from the Customer Service Supervisor, and they have said -(I have attached the latest correspondence) if you can give me any direction, or if I should just drop this, please advise.

Kathy Rinker
see below
RE: Case Number 7939480

Thank you for the additional comments and being so candid with your
response.
Please know, Mrs. Rinker, that if there was something I could do for
you, I would. Unfortunately, if you have contacted the Lost and Found at
the airport where you left it or the airport where the plane flew next,
this is your only recourse. I am sorryI could not do more for you.

Again, thank you for writing.

Sincerely,

Paula M. Harris
Supervisor, Customer Care
Northwest/KLM/Delta Air Lines

I’ve figured out why items lost at Northwest Airlines (and likely others) will never be found. Just where does your stuff go? Read on . . .

Northwest sees Lost & Found as a ‘courtesy, not an obligation.’ Contractors clean out each plane at the end of the day, but some are sloppy and leave stuff behind for tomorrow’s crew, often in another city. Planes to not fly regular routes, but are mixed around as needed.

So, your lost item can turn up in another airport that your plane went to days after you flew.

Most important, ‘courtesy, not an obligation’ means they will NOT call you, even if they know your name and phone number (so much for putting a business card inside your items).

So your item is now in some strange city, they can’t tell you which city the plane went to, they won’t call you even if they know your name and phone number, and after 30 days they GIVE your stuff to a giant store in rural Alabama where it’s sold cheap. I’m not joking. Go to unclaimedbaggage.com — they claim they get 7,000 additional items every day. (Hmmm, a little math tells me that’s around 7,000 unhappy airline customers every day.) Yes, they have a luggage section, and they sell used iPods.

As far as Customer Service goes, this is corporate suicide, mixed with a little gross stupidity, and topped off with ‘why don’t you take a flying leap, loser.’ But look at all the money they save on phone calls! The sad part is, the executives are the people who made this choice, but the poor schmucks at the baggage claim counter get all the grief.

Don’t believe me? Go to any Northwest Airlines baggage claim and tell them you’ve lost something common, like a box, or a blazer. I did, and they showed me blazers and boxes, all with people’s names on them. It’s obvious who they belong to, the owners have typically tried to find them (in another city), but Northwest is clearly not making any attempt to contact the owners, even if they live in another city.

You’d think they’d look up their own *CUSTOMER* in their database, or even their Frequent Flier system, (I checked; yes, they do have computers) to tell you they’ve found your stuff.

They cannot tell you where your plane went after you got off or even look up your name in their system, as that violates their ’security rules.’ (Huh??)

Sounds more like simple, lazy-@$$ “We couldn’t care less about your stuff, which we have squirrelled away in some off-the-wall distant airport where you’ll never think to look, and we can’t be bothered to return it to you or even tell you where we’ve hidden it. We won’t try to contact you, even if we know exactly who you are. By the way, we’re dumping it in 30 days. Have a nice day.”

Sorry, you’re not going to get your stuff back.

Your stuff is going straight to Alabama from wherever they’ve hidden it. There it will be sold for pennies on the dollar.

Kiss it good-bye forever.

Northwest has no Lost & Found central office, their local baggage claim agents rarely (and some never) answer the phone.

In their defense, I must admit, if you can miraculously figure out which city they dropped your stuff in, they’ll be glad to give it back to you when you ask for it in person at that airport’s claim counter. If you can figure out where it might be (pick an airport — they only go to a few hundred) and then get them to answer the phone, they’ll send it to your airport at no charge. They just won’t tell you which cities your plane went to after you got off. Catch-22 for you.

Delta is buying them. Delta seems to be mildly more interested in returning lost items (at least they have a central phone number you can try) but they cannot help you for now.

Thanks, Northwest. I’ll be sure and remember this any time I’m shopping for a plane ticket, for the rest of my life. And, don’t worry, I’ll be sure and tell all my friends. Personally, we now travel by car whenever we can.