What happens to all the items that get forgotten on the plane?

[sososotocvfgft]

Just been on my first long haul flight as a parent. Inevitable left an item in the overhead lockers.
Not expensive and I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but I was wondering what happens to such items.
I once left my glasses and travel pillow on a different long haul flight and realised just off the plane, the crew were angry with me but I insisted on going back and grabbing my glasses (couldn't drive without them) but they were adamant I couldn't take my travel pillow with me also

Why would they not let you take your travel pillow? Assuming you had found it, they presumably weren't going to take it off you?

I have heard of things left on planes going missing very quickly. I suspect a lot of them are appropriated by staff (whether of the airline or the airport).

The crew hand it to the ground agents who then deal with it ( the left property) You mean they wouldn’t let you take your own travel pillow off with you? That is extremely strange. Unless you only mentioned the glasses to get back on so they presumed you just liked the look of a random pillow on the way back through the aisle and they thought it wasn’t actually yours 😅

Just been on my first long haul flight as a parent. Inevitable left an item in the overhead lockers.
Not expensive and I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but I was wondering what happens to such items.
I once left my glasses add travel pillow on a different long haul flight and realised just off the plane, the crew were angry with me but I insisted on going back and grabbing my glasses (couldn't drive without them) but they were adamant I couldn't take my travel pillow with me also

Not sure I get your OP, but you could try keeping all your belongings together in your bag.

First long haul flight as a parent. It wasn't the OP's first long haul flight, but the first one as a parent.

I left my kindle on a long haul flight in transit via Dubai and had to explain to various ground crew that I'd left it on the plane - thank heavens for Google translate! I had to collect it from the lost property office on the way back at Dubai and I've never seen anything like it - the office/store room was full of all sorts including bunches of flowers, hats, enormous suitcases, clothing, and my little kindle sat safely on a window ledge. I was very impressed how quickly the lost property staff managed to locate it amongst all the mayhem!

The crew find it and hand it to the ground crew who put it in lost property. Unless it's a chilly bottle then it goes in the bin, there are many, many chilly bottles left on aircraft!

My so left a wallet on the plane in Hong Kong on the way to Australia. They emailed and said he had 90 days to collect from Hong Kong airport - he picked it up on his way home.
on another flight I lost my glasses, and despite leaving my details I never heard.

As we were getting off a plane in the Canaries a few years ago, I spotted something that looked like a diabetic kit on the floor by some seats a couple of rows in front of us. I thought I'd recognise the people who'd been sitting in front of us but wasn't entirely sure and also knew that, even if I could recognise them, I might not see them again so I left it where it was. Mistake!
It was one of those airports where you walk across the tarmac to the arrivals hall and then queue for passport control. I saw the family ahead of me so went & said that I'd thought they may have left something on the plane and described it. The Dad immediately patted his pockets and went pale and then dashed out of the arrivals hall back to the plane. They wouldn't let him back on even though my guess had been correct and it was his insulin. Instead, the crew apparently said they'd take it back to Gatwick and he could collect it on his way home.
It turned out to have a happy ending. There was a disabled passenger still on board with the assistance crew. They overheard the commotion and asked whether they (well, their travel companion who was still on board with them) could get it. The crew apparently said that they shouldn't but the travel companion went down the plane & got it and I think common sense kicked in and the crew didn't stop him even though it was technically taking someone else's possessions. Meanwhile, back in the terminal, the wife of the diabetic chap was in tears and the children were looking really upset.
It turned out we were all on the same transfer bus and that was delayed so we had plenty of time to piece the situation together.

That was also the trip where I left something on the transfer bus. They claimed not to have seen it so, as our hotel was quite nearby, I got a taxi back to the airport and went to lost property to see if they had it. They did ... along with DH and DD's jackets which we hadn't even realised we were missing! Lost property were really suspicious of me spying a couple of items and claiming they were also mine but fortunately DD's had a nametape in it & I had her passport so, as they were together, they gave me both.

@Citrusandginger I've been on zillions of flights, loads of them long hay and I've only forgotten things on 2 of these flights. Not bad considering I have ADHD and I suffer from motion sickness (I did actually vomit on descent on this latest flight, so you can imagine how I rough I feel) so this is why things get left behind on the rare occasion.

I was travelling (on a flight) alone with my toddler for the first time, between wrangling them and dealing with my own sickness it's not surprising (to me) I didn't manage to gather everything together.
Nothing I left was massively important (eg I can easily replace them) but it occurred to me that if I had left them somewhere like a restaurant or train I possibly would bother to contact them to enquire if they had found the items, but with airports/airplanes I just wouldn't because they treat their customers with borderline contempt at the best of times!

That's horrific! So glad it all worked out!