International Survey Reveals The Bizarre Items Found By Cabin Crews

At the end of most commercial flights, after the plane is parked at the gate, flight crews tell passengers to look around and "be sure to collect all of your personal belongings."

Some passengers apparently are better at that than others.

A live parrot, a glass eye and a bag of sand are just a few of the bizarre items left behind on planes each year, according to a survey of 700 international cabin crew by leading global travel search site Skyscanner. Cabin crew have reported an extensive list of items found on flights after passengers have disembarked. It includes a surprising number of forgotten pets, with crew members reporting to have found a falcon, frog, tortoise, as well as a parrot abandoned at the end of a flight.

Dentures, underwear, a glass eye and a prosthetic leg were also in the long list of weird and wonderful items revealed by cabin crew, and which pose the question: 'how did the passenger manage to forget them?' Other items found were just simply random: a single egg (without packaging), a bag of sand and a written marriage proposal. Whether the latter was intended for a cabin crew member or a passenger is unclear. Hopefully, the lost wedding dress found its owner before the big day.

Sometimes it's a really big item. One flight attendant reported recovering a double bass from an airplane cabin.

When it comes to the more regular travel essentials, it seems that passengers are no less forgetful. Almost a quarter (24%) of crew have found a lost passport on board, which is even higher than the number of phones (23%) and books (21%) left behind.

Also among the most random items that cabin crews said they have found on a plane:

• A clog
• Box of dried fish
• One shoe
• Bag of diamonds
• Wig
• Bag of onions
• Toupee
• Handcuffs
• Underwear

Victoria Bailie, Skyscanner spokesperson, said: "Many of us have left something behind when we've travelled, such as a book or magazine. However, this survey has revealed that some people have left some quite bizarre items on board and items such as the glass eye and prosthetic leg make you wonder how they could have been missed by the owner. I'm sure one or two items have raised a few smiles among the cabin crew."

Skyscanner conducted a survey of 700 cabin crew from 83 countries through Cabincrew.com.

FMI: www.skyscanner.com