Originally Posted by
DJ_Iceman
I like the suggestion of making the original thief (and yes, that's what he was) deal with the slight hassle of carrying the items back onto the airplane where they can be returned to a FA upon boarding. It's obviously not a capital case.
Not sure an FA will either accept or be interested in something being handed over to them during boarding. What are they to do with it and how do they know the items are clean, safe and even belong to United?
I suspect the FAs have other priorities during boarding. And even if they don't, I wouldn't like to be a passenger slowed down on boarding because some discussion is going on ahead of me about items taken and being returned to the airline. Worst case scenario maybe an FA who like you sees him as a 'thief' and decides it needs to be escalated to management, and that nephew needs to be sanctioned in one way or another.