[Stsoprano]

My laptop was taken by a passenger from under the seat in front of me during boarding and given as abandoned to a flight attendant, who left it at the gate before we took off.

Lufthansa refuses to send it to me and has not responded to my emails. If I don't hear from them soon I will call the police.

[The_Judge]

I would certainly call the police on the passenger who stole your laptop.

[cortney]

Originally Posted by Stsoprano

My laptop was taken by a passenger from under the seat in front of me during boarding and given as abandoned to a flight attendant, who left it at the gate before we took off.

Lufthansa refuses to send it to me and has not responded to my emails. If I don't hear from them soon I will call the police.

It sounds like you're saying you saw this happen. If you saw the passenger take it, give it to the flight attendant, why didn't you tell the passenger that it was yours or speak up. something doesn't add up. Didn't you notice the passenger that was near or in front of you bend down and pick it up?

[dfwgirl]

Please tell me why the airline is responsible for the stuff YOU stored under YOUR seat??

[Stsoprano]

Originally Posted by cortney

It sounds like you're saying you saw this happen. If you saw the passenger take it, give it to the flight attendant, why didn't you tell the passenger that it was yours or speak up. something doesn't add up. Didn't you notice the passenger that was near or in front of you bend down and pick it up?

I was doing a puzzle and had headphones on during boarding, so I wasn't watching the people in the row in front of me, and did not notice them pick it up. All the information about what happened I got from speaking to the flight attendants involved and the couple that gave them the laptop. All of them said they had assumed it was left and that was why they didn't ask if it belonged to anyone.

[Stsoprano]

Originally Posted by dfwgirl

Please tell me why the airline is responsible for the stuff YOU stored under YOUR seat??

Because they took possession of it and took it off the plane without bothering to ask if it belonged to anyone on the flight.

And I stored it under the seat in front of me, like carry-on items are supposed to be. I don't know why it slipped forward to be visible in the row in front of me; the under-seat spaces were offset because of seat-leg positioning, so my seat neighbor could have pushed it forward when she stored her things there, or it could have been kicked by someone crossing that row.

[The FAA]

File the criminal complaint, don't wait. As the Judge mentions, the complaint should be filed against the passenger who removed your property from an area designated for carry-on stowage. I think the police would treat someone removing your baggage from a baggage carousel such that it resulted in the loss of your baggage as theft. The event you describe seems similar. How seriously they will investigate is another matter entirely, but airport police may be quite interested in possible baggage crimes in their airport.

Contact your insurance company, in many instances homeowner policies will extend to cover the loss of personal property due to theft. This will not apply if you do not have a property rider on your policy. Renter's insurance can also cover property, depending on the policy.

The events described seem bizarre. We have a passenger who found an "abandoned" piece of carry-on luggage that was stowed in an area designated for storage of same. A member of the flight crew then accepted, during boarding, this same piece of carry-on luggage as "abandoned" and removed the item from the plane. If I found an "abandoned" roller in the overhead bin, would Lufthansa just let me remove it and accept my word that it was abandoned? What about the other "abandoned" laptops, purses, etc. that were also stowed under seats as the plane boarded? What questions did the crew member ask the passenger before accepting the story? It would seem to me that there must have been more to the interchange between the passenger who "found" your laptop and the crew member who accepted it. More, perhaps, than the OP is aware of. Given, what seems on its face, to be rather cavalier behavior by the crew member who accepted your laptop as "abandoned", you should also push this complaint as far up the Lufthansa chain as possible.

[jimworcs]

I don't know why there is such a mystery about this relatively minor incident here. During boarding a passenger notices a laptop under their seat and thinks it was there prior to boarding and hands it to the FA as something that was left behind. There is no evidence of bad faith. The FA was seriously remiss in not checking with other passengers, as after every flight the cabin is supposed to be checked anyway for security reasons. However, the FA's actions of leaving the laptop at the gate was the right action given that it was assumed a passenger who had disembarked from the earlier sector had left it onboad. So far, so routine. There is no "theft" and neither is there any suggestion of malfeasance.

Now we get to the interesting bit. Lufthansa have accepted the item into their care and they are legally responsible for handling it appropriately. The OP is entitled to expect Lufthansa to exercise reasonable care with their property and to return it. I would send a registered letter to them outlining the circumstances and stating that if they do not reply within 30 days you will initiate small claims court action for the return of your property. You are entitled to have it returned or to be compensated. I will post an address you can also write too to get the regulator involved to assist in the next post.

[jimworcs]

You can contact the regulator at the following address and I would send a copy of your letter to them:

Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA)
DE - 38144 Braunschweig
Tel.: +49 531 – 23 55 115 (mo-th 9-16, fr 9-15)
Fax: +49 531 - 2355707 [email protected] http://www.lba.de

[The FAA]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

I don't know why there is such a mystery about this relatively minor incident here. During boarding a passenger notices a laptop under their seat and thinks it was there prior to boarding and hands it to the FA as something that was left behind. There is no evidence of bad faith. The FA was seriously remiss in not checking with other passengers, as after every flight the cabin is supposed to be checked anyway for security reasons. However, the FA's actions of leaving the laptop at the gate was the right action given that it was assumed a passenger who had disembarked from the earlier sector had left it onboad. So far, so routine. There is no "theft" and neither is there any suggestion of malfeasance.

The flight attendant would not be remiss, at least as far as accepting a lost item, if the passenger who found the laptop led the flight attendant to believe that the laptop was found in the seat back pocket, in the bathroom, on the jetway, etc. In other words, where the flight attendant understood the passenger to have found the laptop may matter. I find the scenario in which the passenger gave the flight attendant an incorrect understanding of the situation more plausible than the one in which the flight attendant accepted a carry-on item that was stowed in a designated area as being lost or abandoned. More simply, I find it difficult to accept that any flight attendant would accept any item turned in during the boarding process as lost unless the person turning the item in somehow conveyed to the flight attendant that the item was found in place where it was not supposed to be.

Whether the passenger's actions that led to the OP being deprived of the laptop were intentional is not relevant from the OP's perspective. The act of deprivation should be sufficient for establishing a possible act of theft. Any investigation that is subsequently carried out would have the question of intent as an objective. It is, after all, the police department's job to determine if a possible criminal act is in fact a criminal act. I should also note, lest this is not clear, that I am in no way suggesting that the airline is criminally liable. I suspect that the passenger who found the laptop is most likely responsible for any action taken by the flight attendant by mis-representing the details of finding the laptop. Whether this mis-representation was intentional or unintentional is one question that I would expect the police to determine.

While in agreement with you regarding small claims court, I think pursuit of a criminal complaint may be a more productive first step. If, and it is a big IF, the police were willing to investigate this event; they are in a better position to identify and interview both the passenger and the flight attendant. The police are also likely to have a greater ability to determine the fate of the laptop after it left the flight attendant's control. If the laptop was passed on to a lost and found department and then disappeared, that would be a criminal matter as well. Further, a criminal complaint will be simpler for the OP to implement, only requiring the filing of a police report. Attempts at redress through Lufthansa may involve a great deal of time and communication, while small claims court will at least require the payment of a filing fee. Lastly, if the police determine that no crime was involved, civil action would still be an option. I also note that a police report, and the results of any investigation, may prove useful in arguing a civil action. If the police were able to trace the laptop from a particular passenger, to a particular flight attendant, to a particular gate agent, etc., to the point at which it disappeared, that would be a difficult position for Lufthansa to defend. I see no reason not to pursue any avenue that may result in redress.

As to

Originally Posted by jimworcs

mystery about this relatively minor incident

My interest is stimulated by the involvement of another passenger. In some sense, this is not precisely an airline complaint, but rather a complaint about an airline's act prompted by the action of a third party. I find the actions of that third party to be questionable. Who, among the many travellers party to this site, has actually checked underneath their seat while boarding an aircraft? If you did check, would you assume that whatever you found was left by a passenger from the previous leg? If you noticed a laptop protruding from beneath your seat, would you not ask the passenger behind you before assuming that it was left by a passenger on the previous leg? If this is the act of a good samaritan, it is one that exhibits a lack of understanding of normal airline procedures for carry-on luggage that boggles the mind. If this passenger saw my car parked in front of my house, would he assume that I had abandoned the car and help me out by having it towed? Would this then only be a dispute between the towing company and me, with the third party held blameless? It is simply my belief that the passenger who turned the laptop in should not be completely uninvolved and held blameless. Since I view the intention of this passenger as being quesionable, I think that involving an agency that is empowered to question intent and motive is appropriate.