Phones – a boarding pass, wallet and camera all in one – very rarely leave our hands while travelling, but what happens when you lose your treasured device on a flight?
A Which? investigation has revealed that less than half of phones lost on major UK airlines are successfully returned to their owners as carriers outsource responsibility for lost items.
The consumer group deliberately misplaced a phone on a British Airways, easyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair aircraft between 2 September and 20 October 2024.
Which? researchers then activated Apple’s ‘Find My Phone’ tracking feature and remotely registered the devices as lost.
British Airways uses a third party, Smarte Carte, to manage its lost property. Researchers were unable to deal with BA directly, even immediately after the phone went missing on a flight from Larnaca, Cyprus, to London Heathrow, and it could be tracked to the plane.
Investigators reported that a day later, the phone had moved and could be seen about 15 miles from Heathrow Airport near Windsor Castle.
A police report confirmed that the address was not linked to anyone working at Heathrow, and the phone was not recovered.
Smarte Carte did not comment. However, a spokesperson for British Airways said: “Our crews remind customers upon arrival at their destination to check they have all their belongings before leaving the aircraft. In the unlikely event that belongings are left behind, we follow a process managed by Heathrow Airport and their third-party supplier, Smarte Carte, like other airlines at the airport.”
Which? researchers had a similar experience with easyJet after leaving a phone on a flight from Nice, France, to Luton.
The passengers were redirected to baggage handler Menzies, who told them to register the item as lost on another third-party website. However, no email confirmation arrived.
Lost property for Luton Airport told Which? it does not handle items left on planes, and easyJet sent no further communication that the phone had been found.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “We have procedures in place to reunite customers with items they may have left behind when they are found on board or handed in and unfortunately this item wasn’t found onboard or handed in.”
Of the four ‘lost’ phones, just two – Jet2 and Ryanair – were recovered following the…
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