460 glasses, 240 IDs and a birthday cake: the most forgotten items on this budget SA airline

Ever arrive after a flight, tired, only to discover you've left something valuable behind? It could be something essential like your passport or cellphone, a costly possession, or a memento with sentimental worth.

It happens to the best of us, so you are not alone.

Interested in how these matters are handled in South Africa, I contacted Haydn Halim-Henning, LIFT's brand manager, to learn about their procedure for such issues.

The responses to my queries are provided below.

Every airport has its quirks, but what’s the most “South African” item that has ever ended up in your lost and found bin? 

South Africans travel with a lot of personality, so the lost-and-found list definitely reflects that. 

One of the more bizarre items our crew once found onboard was actually a fully decorated birthday cake in a box that someone had clearly brought along for a celebration at their destination. 

Unfortunately, in the rush to disembark, it was left behind in the overhead bin. Somewhere out there was a party missing its cake…

What specific local items experience a massive surge during busy travel periods, such as the Easter and December holidays?

We definitely see patterns that reflect South African travel habits. One of the biggest spikes is actually gifts and holiday shopping items. Things like sunglasses, caps, clothing and souvenirs that people buy while travelling and then accidentally leave behind in the overhead bins or seat pockets.

We also see a noticeable increase in children’s items, especially during the December holidays. Families are travelling more, so our crews often find toy planes, dolls, toy cars, colouring books and the occasional single shoe left behind once everyone has disembarked.

The volume definitely increases during the big travel seasons, when airports are busier, flights are fuller, and people are very much in holiday mode.

What’s the most emotional reunion you’ve witnessed between a local traveller and a “sentimental” item?

A well-worn teddy bear!  A young passenger left their teddy on the aircraft. From a value perspective, it’s not worth anything, but for the family, it was clearly priceless. 

The parents contacted our support team shortly after landing when they realised it was missing. Our crew found it during the aircraft clean and logged it with the airport team, so we were able to reunite them later that same day. 

When the family collected it, the relief was incredible to see. It’s a good reminder that while some of the items we find might seem small or insignificant, they can carry a lot of sentimental value for the person who owns them.

In a country where family and heritage are so important, have you ever recovered heirlooms or traditional wedding items?

We’ve had instances where passengers left behind important personal documents or family-related items, like birth certificates or folders containing paperwork for major life events, which you can immediately tell carry a lot more weight than a typical forgotten item.

When our crew come across something like that, there’s a real sense of urgency to make sure it’s secured and returned as quickly as possible. 

Reuniting someone with something that clearly has sentimental or cultural importance is always far more meaningful than simply returning a forgotten pair of sunglasses.

What happens to unclaimed items?

Once an item is discovered after disembarkation, cabin crew secure it immediately, and it is handed over to the relevant operational team. Items are logged into the airline’s lost property process, safely stored, and kept aside for collection.

Could you reveal the most expensive or unusual luxury item currently stored in your vault?

People often assume it’s just the basics like keys or phones, but some of the items we find can be surprisingly valuable. We’ve had a couple of MacBooks left behind on board, which always amazes us, considering how attached most people are to their devices.

What item is most frequently forgotten by travellers?

The most common items our cabin crew find after passengers disembark are the usual travel “small essentials”.

These are glasses, ID cards, bank cards, driver’s licences, and earphones.

Since the launch of LIFT in 2020, glasses have been the number one item left behind, with over 460 pairs forgotten onboard over the past five years. 

A close second is ID cards, with over 240 left behind.

Could you provide an overview of the lost and found procedure?

• Speak to airport staff straight away: If they are still in the terminal, passengers should notify a ground staff member at the airport immediately
• Contact the airline’s support team as soon as possible: If the passenger has already left the airport, the next best step is to contact our Customer Support team immediately. The support team can log the details, alert the relevant station team, and check whether the item has been handed in by the crew. 

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines recently announced a new collaboration with Google, introducing the "Find Hub" feature for sharing item locations.

This option helps streamline the traveller experience, which complements and improves the existing official process for recovering lost baggage.

How does it work?

• To report a missing item, passengers use the Find Hub app. They select the lost item and tap "share item location", which generates a secure, unique URL.
• This URL is then given to a Turkish Airlines representative, allowing them to view the item's location as it updates.
• Passengers maintain complete control over the sharing process. They can stop sharing at any time via the app. For security, the links automatically expire after seven days, and sharing is automatically disabled once the item is returned to its owner.
• Passenger privacy is protected, as all location data is encrypted.

• If you found this article interesting, you might want to check out the National Geographic show "Inside Airport Lost and Found" (DStv channel 181), which airs on Thursdays at 6.50pm.