A woman described when she lost her AirPods on an airplane and tracked them to an airport employee’s home two weeks later.
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Alisabeth Hayden was flying from Tokyo, Japan, to Seattle, Washington, to visit her husband earlier this month. She said she left the headphones on a United Airlines plane after getting off on a layover at San Francisco International Airport. After realizing she had left her jacket and AirPods behind, a flight attendant prevented her from re-entering the plane due to federal regulations.
“I was the third from last off the plane, so I asked the flight attendant if I could go and get it. He said no – I was required by federal law to get off the plane and stand beside it, where the strollers are brought to. I was tired, and he said he’d bring it to me, I said OK,” she explained to CNN. Although the flight attendant returned her jacket, Hayden learned on her next flight that her AirPods were still missing.
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The plane left for Seattle, but Hayden managed to track the device using the “Find My” app and saw that her headphones appeared at a cargo terminal before moving around the airport and down Highway 101. Hayden added that the headphones ended up at a residential address and remained there for three days. She later listed her headphones as lost on the app and pinged her number to the person who took them.
Hayden contacted the San Mateo Police Department and received help from a detective who worked at SFO. He matched the address to an airport contractor assigned to load on aircraft. The employee told police the headphones were given to him by a cleaner. Hayden added that the AirPods looked like they were stomped on when they were returned to her twelve days later.
The airline gave her $271 and 5,000 airline miles for the incident and confirmed that the employee worked for a vendor.
Social media users commented on the story and had their own opinions regarding the unique situation.
If ya gone spend 250 on wireless earbuds these the ones to get. I did eventually find my LG Tones but a month and 250 later 😑 https://t.co/Z8dZRZivAm
— Fiinn (@fiinnesse) March 26, 2023
She should have checked around her immediate seating area for any personal items she might have brought on board(they tell everyone to)
Also, the airline and employees are not responsible to return anything left on the plane, it is a courtesy when they do
— Michael (@MovieFanMan75) March 26, 2023
Lol so many people beat me to the point that this lady prob spent more hrs worrying about her AirPods than they would be worth working the same hours at almost any job. She likely could’ve just bought a new pair for the two weeks of effort she put into this 😂
— ElTrento (@trentlarsen) March 26, 2023
No, I get what you mean but if I lived out of state and I missed my AirPods, I wouldn’t of called the cops. I wouldn’t of went to crazy and yelled at everyone at united airlines. I’m really surprised that she talk some cop leaving and going to San Mateo to retrieve them. I just…
— James Wilford (@jwilford2013) March 26, 2023