# Lost Laptop on Amtrak in Boston March 2017



## Barry Cothran (Mar 28, 2017)

My college sophomore daughter left her Microsoft Surface Book laptop in a seat pocket on the Amtrak train that arrived in Boston the afternoon of March 11, 2017. All of her college work is on it. Amtrak's lost and found does not report having it. We will gladly pay to have it returned. Contact bacothran at aol dot com.


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## Devil's Advocate (Mar 28, 2017)

Barry Cothran said:


> My college sophomore daughter left her Microsoft Surface Book laptop in a seat pocket on the Amtrak train that arrived in Boston the afternoon of March 11, 2017. All of her college work is on it. Amtrak's lost and found does not report having it. We will gladly pay to have it returned. Contact [email protected]


Have you been checking eBay and Craigslist? Although if this was back on the 11th it's most likely already been sold and you'll probably never see this laptop again. Might as well call up your insurance company and get it replaced. Next time consider installing LoJack/Computrace before handing over another laptop or tablet. Also, just to be clear, we do not represent and are not associated with Amtrak in any way, shape, or form.


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## erinch13 (Apr 22, 2017)

I have a college daughter too! Finally managed to get idrive installed on her laptop for continuous backup to a cloud based solution.

We left a phone on a train, an expensive galaxy, which supposedly went in to lost and found, and was never seen again. Feel your pain!


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## Lonestar648 (Apr 24, 2017)

Phones, laptops, etc. left on trains, planes, waiting areas, grow legs and will never be seen again. Continuous back-up to a Cloud with nothing saved on the hardware protects the user somewhat that the documents are not lost, but saved passwords are still available.


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## Ryan (Apr 25, 2017)

False. I left an iPad on an airplane, and didn't realize it for more than 24 hours.

Southwest was able to track it down and return it to me.

It was even powered on for its journey home, I was able to track it once they got it to their "stuff idiots lost" facility and charged it.


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## printman2000 (Apr 25, 2017)

I too left an iPad on a Southwest plane. Got it back several weeks later.


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 25, 2017)

I've never lost anything of value on Southwest, or any other airlines for that matter. Probably because even the longest flights are shorter than many of my Amtrak trips. Even in intercontinental first class there's not as many locations to misplace and lose your items compared to Amtrak sleepers. I have lost both trivial and valuable items on Amtrak, everything from camera lenses to power supplies and train tickets. Unfortunately I have never witnessed even one single item recovered by Amtrak's lost and found department. Even when I called before the train reached the next stop, let alone the terminus, nothing could be done. The first call results in "too early to do anything, call back later" and the second or third call results in "too late to keep calling, try your insurance company."


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## printman2000 (Apr 25, 2017)

Yeah, Southwest has an awesome system in place for lost items. I would never expect to get something back from Amtrak.


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## Hal (Apr 25, 2017)

printman2000 said:


> Yeah, Southwest has an awesome system in place for lost items. I would never expect to get something back from Amtrak.


A Southwest plane is going from one point to the next, it arrives, they go thru and clean up, the next passengers are waiting to board. So that makes good odds of recovering something in a seat pocket. On the train peeps are getting on and off, the next person occupying the seat may or may not notice the left item. If they notice it they might or might not turn it in. If the left item makes it to the end of the line not found it is not predictable how long the car will sit before the cleaners go thru it. It might even go to the yard and sit there for a long time. Before the cleaners go thru it no telling who might walk thru the car and walk off with the left item.

The best case scenario is a passenger gets off and realizes they left the item before the train has gotten to the end point. They call customer service and report it. They call the train and the crew looks for it. It is a seven or eight car train full of passengers. Unfortunately most of the time the passenger who left it, understandably, does not have much of an idea which car they were in and where they left the item. It is not that easy to find. So please check for any personal items before leaving the train.....


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## tomfuller (Apr 26, 2017)

Amtrak went above and beyond to get my laptop back to me. Somehow I didn't put it back in my bag when I was changing clothes in the bathroom. It was handed to a Conductor on the EB whose stop was at MSP. I got a call in CHI before I was to board the LSL for CLE. I was renting a car in Cleveland and traveling for about 10 days. They boxed it up and sent it to Chicago where they forwarded it on the CL to Washington where I picked it up about 6 days after I lost it. I still have that laptop and have taken it on several Amtrak trips since then.

When you power up the laptop it says on the start screen "Tom Fuller's laptop". They looked up my cell number from my Amtrak profile.


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 26, 2017)

Hal said:


> The best case scenario is a passenger gets off and realizes they left the item before the train has gotten to the end point. They call customer service and report it. They call the train and the crew looks for it. It is a seven or eight car train full of passengers. Unfortunately most of the time the passenger who left it, understandably, does not have much of an idea which car they were in and where they left the item.


I called Amtrak shortly after my train left the station. Instead of contacting someone Amtrak insisted that it was impossible to reach anyone on the train before it arrived at the terminus. Knowing the exact car and the precise location of the item didn't seem to mean anything to them. The reason my laptop & camera charger were outside my room was because the only functioning electrical socket in the entire car was in the coffee cubby. They didn't even want to write down any details like brand, model, shape, or color. They just wanted me to sit and wait up to a week on the off chance that someone saw something and turned it in.

When I asked why it would take up to a week to recover and even offered to drive to the terminus they said it was a waste of time because any employee who found my things might not have time to turn them in until the following shift several days later. When I asked who would be looking if nobody is able to contact the train they said there was nothing more they could do for me. This example is just one of three separate attempts I made to recover something when the train was still in transit. Now I simply assume that whatever I leave on Amtrak stays on Amtrak. Calling Amtrak asking for help just wastes my time and energy.


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## Hal (Apr 26, 2017)

Devil's Advocate said:


> I called Amtrak shortly after my train left the station. Instead of contacting someone Amtrak insisted that it was impossible to reach anyone on the train before it arrived at the terminus. Knowing the exact car and the precise location of the item didn't seem to mean anything to them. The reason my laptop & camera charger were outside my room was because the only functioning electrical socket in the entire car was in the coffee cubby. They didn't even want to write down any details like brand, model, shape, or colo


Don't know what station or the end point, maybe that has something to do with your particular request, but on the NEC the crews get requests to look for left items. Perhaps dispatchers on off corridor railroads won't call the train to look for left items. That I don't know. Also sometimes customer service at an intermediate station stop enroute boards at a station stop and looks for a lost item. I don't know who the passengers have contacted at Amtrak but somehow the enroute crews and enroute stations on the NEC do get requests to look for lost items. Maybe not possible off corridor. The crews if contacted do attempt to find the left item. On the NEC if the item is found most would like to get it off their hands and hand it to a station enroute that can send it back, not take it to the end. Who knows what happens after an item gets turned in. Many crew would be paranoid that the recovered item would disappear after turned in and it used to be they would personally contact the passenger if there was contact info found and ask them what they wanted to do, have it turned in to lost and found or get it back some other way. That was before onboard cell phone use by crews was prohibited. As I said please check for your personal items before debarking. Looking for them on a train is problematic, can be like a needle in a haystack, and returning them can be problematic since at some stations at some times of day, there is none to turn the items into. So the item can't be turned in until the crew returns for their next duty. Off corridor I guess that could be a while.


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## Bob Dylan (Apr 26, 2017)

We've probably all lost things on all means of transportation and in other places too.( keys anyone?).

One thing I've found Amtrak Conductors/Car Attendants especially good about, is making announcements about checking around your seating area for your personal items and luggage before detraining.

Chris makes a good point about rooms on trains, especially Roomettes, being places

that it's easy to loose/misplace things in.My most common thing to loose has been chargers for electronic devices and coats/jackets in the small closet on Superliner I Roomettes.

I've been fortunate enough to get back a cellphone I left on the Texas Eagle but never any of the chargers,extension cords or clothing left in my room. I've not left anything in Coach on my many trips over the years. YMMV


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## Acela150 (Apr 26, 2017)

Ryan said:


> False. I left an iPad on an airplane, and didn't realize it for more than 24 hours.
> 
> Southwest was able to track it down and return it to me.
> 
> It was even powered on for its journey home, I was able to track it once they got it to their "stuff idiots lost" facility and charged it.


I remember you posting that iPad's adventure on Facebook.. Which I'll admit was pretty cool.


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 26, 2017)

Acela150 said:


> Ryan said:
> 
> 
> > False. I left an iPad on an airplane, and didn't realize it for more than 24 hours. Southwest was able to track it down and return it to me. It was even powered on for its journey home, I was able to track it once they got it to their "stuff idiots lost" facility and charged it.
> ...


One time I left a smart phone on a shuttle at BWI. This was before consumer level remote tracking was a common service. I had left a local GPS tracking application running and it showed the flight to BWI followed by an endless series of circles between the parking area and the terminal. Made me feel bad for the driver. That has to be one of the most mind numbing and soul crushing jobs in the industrialized world.


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