COMMENT: Lost on board

With the holidays upon us, now is the time to remind readers of a serious travel problem.  Do make sure nothing personal is left behind on the aeroplane.

As millions of Brits prepare to take off on their summer vacations Virgin Atlantic Airways has issued a timely warning to remind passengers to take care of their belongings.  Every year it is estimated that more than 12,000 books, 10,500 pairs of reading glasses and around 5,000 phones are left on board its flights.

The airline tells us that some of the more unusual items it has managed to re-unite its passengers with include: an artificial limb, an urn of ashes, a movie script and a wheelchair belonging to Artie from Glee!  The books always take first place, with the glasses next up, mobile phones, then cameras and in more recent times iPod/MP3 players.

However the most unusual items to have been found by ground staff are: the artificial limb was found on a flight from New York, the passenger was travelling to Johannesburg.  On a Boston service the catch included seven plastic orange pumpkins and witches broom sticks.

Laura Hutcheson, Flight Services Manager at Virgin Atlantic, sums it all up.  “Passengers leave all sorts of items on planes ranging from the predictable to the quite unexpected.  I was surprised to find an artificial limb left behind by one of our Upper Class passengers but was delighted that we were able to re-unite them.

“Many passengers start their holidays the moment they get on board and when they relax into their adventure they can often forget the basics of checking they don’t leave anything behind.  Naturally we remind all passengers to ensure they have their belongings with them but would urge more people heed this advice!”

All that AERBT can add to that is that we normally travel just with a roller bag into which a laptop fits.  And after our last long haul flight, was chased after by a fellow passenger asking if we intended to leave the airline’s amenities bag.  People are so helpful.

If you are off on holiday this week, enjoy.  Read AERBT on your mobile but don't leave it behind on the aeroplane.

Malcolm Ginsberg

Editor in Chief

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum