I left my laptop on a flight. Here's how I got it back within 24 hours
It's one of the worst feelings in the world: Suddenly realizing you've left something valuable behind. In my case, it was my work laptop — and that sinking feeling set in when I realized it wasn't in my backpack when I got home from a recent flight from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).
I quickly realized I had stowed it away in the seat pocket on my Delta Air Lines flight to New York's LaGuardia Airport (LGA). Ugh.
Immediately, I started going through my options of what to do next. I thought, "Perhaps I should call my office to get a replacement," but then wondered if maybe a good Samaritan might turn it in to the Delta gate agent, and that would end up being unnecessary. I knew that was overly optimistic, but my optimism turned out to be warranted after all.
So instead of calling my company, I called Delta customer service. I had a super helpful agent who told me he was sending a message to the ground staff at LGA to be on the lookout for my laptop. He suggested I also open a lost item report file at Delta's Lost and Found website.
He patiently walked me through all the steps to filing the report. It's fairly straightforward; once you fill out the three screens, it generates a lost item report number for you.
Within a few minutes, I had an email from the Delta Air Lines Lost Item Recovery Team saying: "You've lost something important to you, and we're dedicated to helping you find it. We'll search our inventory of items, and we’ll contact you if we find anything that closely matches your description. If your item is found, we’ll provide you with a link which will guide you through the shipping and payment process so that we can reunite you and your lost item quickly."
Delta said the lost item ticket would remain open for the next three weeks, and "We will be working hard to find your lost item and provide you with email updates along the way."
At this point, I didn't expect to ever see my laptop again, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
The next morning, on my way into the office (with my personal backup computer in tow), I got a call from an unlisted phone number on my phone. For once, I answered and I'm glad I did. A young man named Francis was on the other end of the line, and he had great news for me. Someone had found my laptop and turned it into the lost and found at LGA!
Mind you, this was just 14 hours after I'd first called about my item. Delta also emailed me that same morning to let me know my item had been recovered:
"Good news! We’ve located an item that closely matches the description of your reported lost item. To the best of our ability, we’ve verified that the item matched to your lost report is indeed your item, and now we’d like to get it back to you as soon as possible."
That's incredible. I was so thankful and appreciative.
Francis told me I could either pick up the laptop in person or pay to have it delivered to me. I just happened to have a flight later that week from LGA, so I said to hold it for me, and I would pick it up and thank him in person.
I showed up bright and early at the fancy new Delta Baggage Service Office at LaGuardia and met Francis and his whole team.
That turned into a great day and a remarkable service moment from Delta.
What to do if you leave an item on a plane or at the airport
It has happened to nearly everyone I know who travels frequently. Lost phones, Kindles, iPads, chargers, passports ... the list goes on, but here are some of our best pieces of advice when you've left something behind:
- If you realize it at the airport, go back to the gate if you can. Most of the time, you can't get back on the plane, but you can ask a gate agent to help locate your missing item if the plane is still at the gate.
- If you have passed customs or cannot return to your gate, ask an airline employee for assistance. One time, I left my phone in a restroom at London's Heathrow International Airport (LHR). I'd already cleared customs, so I couldn't return to where I'd left it. Instead, I went to the Virgin Atlantic Arrivals Lounge and the employees there called a colleague on the other side of security, and they were able to retrieve my phone!
- You can also visit the lost baggage claim area to report any missing items.
- Try messaging the airline through Instagram, X, or the chat function on their app. The faster you report an item missing, the better.
- If the item is made by Apple, you can try using the "Find My" feature to track your item.
- Finally, do what I did and call the airline directly to find out the process for reporting lost items. Most major airlines have online forms, such as the one I described from Delta.
- You may need to file a police report in some instances as well.
- If you have lost your passport, you may need to obtain a new one and report the previous one as lost or stolen. We have a complete guide to what to do in that case here.
If all else fails and your item is truly gone for good, check if you can use the purchase protection that comes with some credit cards in order to get reimbursed for the cost of the item. You may have some protection for mobile phones, for example, based on how you pay your monthly cell phone bill.
Bottom line
All is not lost just because you left an item on the plane or at the airport. My story had a happy ending — and yours could too, so long as you act quickly and use every tool at your disposal.
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