[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?

[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.

[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 fluggastrechte@lba.de http://www.lba.de

[dfwgirl]

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

[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.