Airlines are leaving their customers in the lurch by avoiding or outsourcing responsibility for lost phones, which is a covert strategy? research has found.
When which? Surveyed members about their experiences with airlines last year, less than half (48 percent) of those who had lost a phone on a flight said they had successfully returned it.
To find out how airlines deal with lost devices, cover up Which One? Investigators purchased four iPhones and deliberately left them on flights of four major UK airlines: British Airways, easyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair.
The result? Only two were recovered, those lost with Jet2 and Ryanair. And the one they left on a BA flight was stolen.
Which? The researchers flew with the four airlines between September 2 and October 20, 2024, reserved the back seat and made sure they were the last passengers to disembark the plane before leaving their phone in the seat pocket.
In each case, which ones? turned on Apple’s “Find My iPhone” tracking technology to follow the phones’ travels, and to make things even easier for airline staff, remotely set a message on the lock screen that said “This phone is lost” along with a number that is displayed to the search engine. to call.
While the phones were quickly recovered from Jet2 and Ryanair, investigators had a very different experience with BA, after leaving it on a flight from Larnaca, Cyprus, to London Heathrow.
Which? explained: ‘British Airways, like the four airlines we tested, effectively leaves the management of its lost property to a third party, in the case of BA, Smarte Carte.
To find out how airlines deal with lost devices, cover up Which One? Researchers bought four iPhones and deliberately left them on flights of four major UK airlines: British Airways, easyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair (file image)
Which? Investigators left a phone on a BA flight from Larnaca, Cyprus, to London Heathrow. The phone later ended up in a cabin 15 miles from the airport and was never recovered.
‘Even immediately after the phone was abandoned, when tracking still showed it was on or near the plane, we were unable to deal with BA directly.
‘Instead we were directed to Smarte Carte, where we were able to search online for a list of 36 phones lost at Heathrow.
“However, the phone had not been recovered and was not listed.”
Instead of being sent to the BA recovery center, a day later, which one? Investigators say they could see that his phone had been moved to a cottage a short distance from Windsor Castle, 15 miles from Heathrow.
Which? He said he reported this to the police, who gave them a crime reference number and “confirmed that the address was not linked to anyone working at Heathrow”.
Officers then visited the cabin and spoke with residents, but by that time the phone had stopped transmitting its location.
“Either they had turned it off or the battery had died and the phone didn’t recover” which? he commented.
The police, which one? He said, “Noted that if a stolen phone is broadcasting its position, in some circumstances they can knock on the door, but they can’t always do so if contact has been lost.”
Which? Investigators left a phone on an EasyJet flight from Nice to London Luton Airport and never recovered it, despite checking it in with the airline’s external baggage handler, Menzies.
Which? revealed that he had a similar experience with easyJet, after investigators left a phone on a flight from Nice, France, to London Luton airport.
He explained: ‘We couldn’t speak to anyone at the airline who could help. Instead, easyJet directed us to their baggage handler, Menzies, who told us to register the item as lost on another third-party website.
“After registering, we were promised a confirmation email, but none arrived.”
Which? It continues: ‘The EasyJet website says that items not claimed within 24 hours are passed to the airport’s lost and found office, but on enquiry, Luton Airport told us it does not handle items left on planes.
“Like BA, easyJet offered no further advice or help finding the phone.”
Which? said ‘Find My iPhone’ tracking did not work on the phone left on the EasyJet plane, meaning it could not be located remotely.
The consumer group added: “We never received any communication from airline or airport staff indicating that the phone had been found, and the phone was never recovered.”
Which? The researchers describe their experience with Jet2 as “more positive,” although they had to pay a fee to retrieve their article.
They added: ‘As with other airlines, we were told to contact a third party after “losing” a phone on a flight from Alicante, Spain, to Birmingham, UK – in this case the airport’s lost and found office.
‘However, a day after reporting the phone missing, we received an email informing us that it had been found. The only drawback was the requirement to pay a fee of £27 to claim it.
The final phone, which one? abandoned was on a Ryanair flight from Malta to Stansted.
Investigators say: “Although Ryanair claims that planes are cleaned at every stopover, the phone was somehow lost after we disembarked in London; Find My iPhone shows it arrived from Stansted to its next stop in Bari, Italy, before be detected.”
“At Bari airport a friendly airport employee phoned to say they had found it and it was returned by courier for a fee of €60/£50.”
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, added: “Today, a phone is far from just a phone: it’s your wallet, your photo album and, when you fly, most of the time it’s also your boarding pass.” When passengers lose something so vital, you’d expect airlines to have systems in place to return it to them quickly and easily, but when we tried to misplace our own phones, we found that all too often that wasn’t the case.
‘It’s frustrating that in the vital first few hours after an item is lost, there is no way to contact the airline to help.
‘Even if you can see it’s still on the plane, you’ll be directed to airport staff or an outside company.
‘How difficult can it be for airlines, who have staff on board, to organize the delivery and securing of lost items so that their customers can be reunited?
“As it is, most operators don’t even answer the phone to help.”
The final phone, which one? abandoned was on a Ryanair flight from Malta to Stansted. The device was eventually returned.
A British Airways spokesperson told Which?: ‘Our crews remind customers upon arriving at their destination to check they have all their belongings before leaving the plane.
“In the unlikely event that belongings are left behind, we follow a process managed by Heathrow Airport and its third party supplier, Smarte Carte, as well as other airlines at the airport.”
Smarte Carte did not provide any comment for its publication and directed Which? to the airline.
An easyJet spokesperson told Which?: “We have procedures in place to reunite customers with items they may have forgotten when they were found on board or delivered and, unfortunately, this item was not found on board or delivered.”
Ryanair said Which one? which, like other airlines, does not accept any responsibility for lost items that have not been placed in the possession or custody of Ryanair. This is different from checked baggage, the return of which is the responsibility of Ryanair in the event of loss. He said all lost items identified by crews at stops are turned over to the lost and found office at each airport, which is operated by the airport or a contractor. In this case, the lost item was discovered in Bari and handed over to the lost and found office there.