Misadventures in airports
So I was supposed to go on a business trip to India for 3 weeks. Well in the New Jersey airport I left my laptop unattended for a few minutes because I was tired and distracted. Of course it was stolen. The problem is that no one at the airport was in any way interested in helping me out. The assumption was that obviously it would never be recovered so why aid in the search. To add to the lunacy, there was no centralized lost-and-found for the airport and each agency operating in the airport maintained their own lost-and-found and none of them communicated with each other. So basically you have:
The airlines
The port authority
The police
The TSA
Everyone directed me to the airline initially even though I knew that was dumb. The laptop is a carry on item so there was nothing on my laptop stating that I had come in on a continental flight. The airlines are really only supposed to have jurisdiction over items left on the plane. In any event I filled out a claim with them. The funny thing is that they gave me a number to check back with them. The number is a recording and the recording basically says you'll get contacted if we find your item otherwise tough luck. There is no possibility to talk to a human being. Great customer service guys!
I tried the TSA next. I figured that maybe if someone was trying to find the rightful owner of the laptop (it was in a laptop case) then they might have taken it to the TSA. The TSA were downright rude and obstructive. I talk to the TSA guy and the conversation goes like:
ME: I'm trying to find my laptop and I wonder if someone might have turned it in to you.
HIM: (Drawing back ribbon barrier) Why don't you step into my office over here...Where did you lost it?
ME: Over at the food court.
HIM: We don't take nothin' that isn't in the security checkpoint so now that you've had the room with the view get on out outta here!
Another TSA agent that I spoke to later was more helpful. He gave me the phone number for their lost and found. The sad thing is that it only operates Monday-Friday from 7AM-4:30PM. This being a Saturday afternoon, I had to wait 2 days to talk to anyone about it. At least the agent on the phone was nice about the fact that it didn't turn up.
The port authority is supposed to have jurisdiction over the food court area and they were definitely the nicest ones. They got on their walkie talkies to see if anyone had seen the laptop but no one had. The port authority is supposed to turn any found items over to the police though so I called the police. When the officer got there all that he wanted to do is take a statement. He didn't question anyone or help me look for it. I called this morning (Tuesday morning) and they still haven't had anyone look into it even though the AIRPORT HAS SECURITY CAMERAS. Why the heck wouldn't you inspect those right away? Now that the trail is this cold I doubt it could be found unless it turns out that a janitor took it or something. That at least is someone the police could go back to and question.
At the end of the day this was a frustrating experience although I have no one to blame but myself. I just now know that the people who are supposed to be helping us are nothing more than a bureacracy that exist only to keep themselves in pay rather than actually doing anything.
The airlines
The port authority
The police
The TSA
Everyone directed me to the airline initially even though I knew that was dumb. The laptop is a carry on item so there was nothing on my laptop stating that I had come in on a continental flight. The airlines are really only supposed to have jurisdiction over items left on the plane. In any event I filled out a claim with them. The funny thing is that they gave me a number to check back with them. The number is a recording and the recording basically says you'll get contacted if we find your item otherwise tough luck. There is no possibility to talk to a human being. Great customer service guys!
I tried the TSA next. I figured that maybe if someone was trying to find the rightful owner of the laptop (it was in a laptop case) then they might have taken it to the TSA. The TSA were downright rude and obstructive. I talk to the TSA guy and the conversation goes like:
ME: I'm trying to find my laptop and I wonder if someone might have turned it in to you.
HIM: (Drawing back ribbon barrier) Why don't you step into my office over here...Where did you lost it?
ME: Over at the food court.
HIM: We don't take nothin' that isn't in the security checkpoint so now that you've had the room with the view get on out outta here!
Another TSA agent that I spoke to later was more helpful. He gave me the phone number for their lost and found. The sad thing is that it only operates Monday-Friday from 7AM-4:30PM. This being a Saturday afternoon, I had to wait 2 days to talk to anyone about it. At least the agent on the phone was nice about the fact that it didn't turn up.
The port authority is supposed to have jurisdiction over the food court area and they were definitely the nicest ones. They got on their walkie talkies to see if anyone had seen the laptop but no one had. The port authority is supposed to turn any found items over to the police though so I called the police. When the officer got there all that he wanted to do is take a statement. He didn't question anyone or help me look for it. I called this morning (Tuesday morning) and they still haven't had anyone look into it even though the AIRPORT HAS SECURITY CAMERAS. Why the heck wouldn't you inspect those right away? Now that the trail is this cold I doubt it could be found unless it turns out that a janitor took it or something. That at least is someone the police could go back to and question.
At the end of the day this was a frustrating experience although I have no one to blame but myself. I just now know that the people who are supposed to be helping us are nothing more than a bureacracy that exist only to keep themselves in pay rather than actually doing anything.