SkyCap Stolen $100 at Check-in!
 

We were checking in at 6:15 am today 11/20/2014 at the first Alaska Airlines ticket Skycap counter outside SEA. An elderly woman was rifling through her bag, and a $100 bill was on the ground. My sister picked up the bill and wasn't sure if it was ours, or the elderly woman's. She politely asked the elderly lady if it was her $100 bill. The lady responded no. The SkyCap attendant immediately grabbed the $100 bill out of my sister's hand, and proclaimed in an assertive manner "I'll take that!" I was appalled by that behavior. That money was either ours, or the old womans, but I was not in a position to challenge the skycap attendant. I'm really feeling upset about it, and not sure who to forward my complaint to. I submitted a complaint with Sea-Tac online, but not sure how far that is going to get me.

I can't say I routinely carry around $100 bills. However, if I were to, I think I would notice if one was missing. I do remember once mistakenly giving a parking lot shuttle driver a $20 bill instead of a $1 bill tip. It was an early morning flight and I wan't paying much attention. I found his extreme exuberance at my tip a bit perplexing at the time. It was only later that I realized I was missing a twenty and understood what had happened.

Frankly we suspect it was the elderly ladies money. I cannot speak for my brother in law or my sister on what kind of bills they were carrying. The point is, SkyCap personnel should not be going around yanking large bills out of peoples hands because they think they can.

This is a real stretch, and, hindsight is always 20-20.

When I first read the post, the thought came to me that this sounds a lot like theft. Especially if the skycap didn't proclaim the bill was his. I mean, come on - what kind of skycap wouldn't immediately pick up a $100 bill that had (just) fallen from his pocket.

When you took possession of the bill (i.e., picked it up off the ground), it became your property. And from your accounting, it sounds like it was rightly so. I agree the skycap had no right to take your property. As you say, the "maybe" piece of all this has to do with the bill belonging (or not) to the elderly lady. What's not at issue is that you had something taken from you, and in a not-too-polite/professional manner.

In terms of hindsight, you could have reported this event to the airport police. I'm not meaning to sound judgmental/critical; just making a 20/20 hindsight observation. In my fantasy world I'm envisioning that a cop would have been nearby, you would have walked over and reported the theft to him, he would have walked over and confronted the skycap, and the skycap would have returned your property to you. The fantasy ends there, because if you ended up checking your bags with this guy, they probably would have ended up in Cape Town. :D

I'm not getting the piece about you not feeling you were in a position to challenge the skycap. Maybe it's that you didn't feel comfortable with initiating such a confrontation - that, I would understand. Did you get his name? That would help if you decided to file a complaint.

The theft occurred on airport property so it should also have been reported to the Port of Seattle (airport management).

Again, it's all part stretch, part 20/20, and part fantasy. But those are my thoughts.

Nope. When you find a lost item that's not yours, it's still... not yours.

Why not turn the lost item over to the police, since it's not yours? ;)

I'm thinking the skycap didn't do that. ;)

Quite possibly, so that would have been a great time to have the police come over, so he can do that. ;)

:DI thought it would actually be robbery

What is being taken under threat of force? Who is the person having property taken under threat of force? It was found on the ground. Is there indisputable evidence that a skycap can't have a $100 bill? :confused:

Theft =! robbery... not to mention that finding $100 on the ground that isn't yours doesn't make it yours, so it can't be stolen from YOU if it's not yours to begin with... I still think the proper approach if one is concerned that the money would be pocketed by the skycap would be to ask for the police, so the bill can go to the PoS's lost and found for SEA if it can't be identified.

That being said... probably a bit awkward to involve a cop while you're loading luggage. But if one is concerned with having lost $100... why wouldn't one check one's wallet and make sure one wasn't missing before letting the skycap go about their business? The whole thing's a bit :confused: to me, wouldn't one check a wallet if someone was carrying hundreds and one found one on the ground?

Any chance it was actually his?

well they ARE making $15 / hour now, right?

I probably wouldn't have reported it. I can imagine taking a long time just to find someone to report it to and then possibly being delayed further to fill out endless and useless reports. The skycap could of just said it was his to the cops. After all it wasn't yours or the other persons in close proximity.

Cash on the ground isnt really up for grabs but would be pretty much impossible to determine the rightful owner.

I was waiting in the car at the curb babysitting my nieces and nephews while my sister and brother in law were checking in. Had I actually been there to confront the skycap, I can assure everyone this would have gone down differently.

My question now is what to do. There is a high chance it was the elderly ladies money. It most certainly was not the skycap's. I can only imagine there are cameras around that area to find out whose actually it was. I'm not saying we are entitled to the money, but I'm more concerned about the skycap's behavior and the rightful owner of the money. Is contacting the airport police really the correct thing to do?

It really doesn't sound like you have anything solid here. You don't know it was the old lady's money and you don't know it wasn't the skycaps for sure. Do you even have his name? Good luck looking at those tapes.

I suppose if it makes you feel better (and certainly if your relatives DO say they lost $100), but this is a case of hindsight being 20/20; the right thing to do (in terms of getting a resolution you would have liked- the cash turned into lost and found) would have been to raise the issue right then and there. After the fact- I can't see the PoS police making a huge hairy deal out of this. You yourself admitted that the lady who you think lost the money said it wasn't hers, so you don't have unambiguous evidence of any crime, and I wouldn't count on video evidence showing things clearly either. Basically, if you file a report now I'd have pretty low expectations....