Woman Left Her AirPods on Plane after Landing in San Fran. She Tracked Them to Airport Worker's Home

Losing your belongings while traveling can be an incredibly frustrating experience. And for one woman, Alisabeth Hayden, losing her AirPods on a flight from Tokyo to San Francisco was more than just an inconvenience - it was a lifeline to her husband who is on secondment in the military.

After realizing her AirPods were missing, Hayden used the "Find My" app on her iPhone to track them down. She found that they were moving from the airport to a residential address in the Bay Area, where they stayed for three days. With the help of a detective from the San Mateo police force, who matched the address the AirPods were pinging from to an airport employee's home, Hayden was able to recover her AirPods after nearly two weeks.

But the condition of the AirPods was not good - they looked like they had been stomped on and were wrapped in a toilet paper-sized piece of bubble wrap. Hayden expressed her disappointment with United Airlines' handling of the situation, but the airline said that the matter had been handed over to law enforcement and that they hold their vendors to the highest standards.

While Hayden's persistence in tracking down her AirPods paid off, she raised an important point about the challenges of recovering lost items while traveling. Not everyone has the time or resources to track down their belongings, and airlines and airports should do more to help their passengers recover lost items.

In the end, Hayden's story serves as a reminder to keep track of your belongings while traveling and to take advantage of tracking technology to help recover lost items. And for those who do experience loss or theft, don't give up - with determination and some help from law enforcement, you may be able to recover your lost items.Buckley, Julia.

“Woman Left Her AirPods on a Plane after Landing in San Francisco. She Tracked Them to an Airport Worker's Home.” The Mercury News, 24 March 2023, https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/03/24/woman-left-her-airpods-on-a-plane-after-landing-in-san-francisco-she-tracked-them-to-an-airport-workers-home/.