Originally Posted by
clearday
While I agree it’s not a United employee, I do think United is responsible for their vendors as well.
United compensated the 'victim' with $279 + 5000miles, so they acknowledged their responsibility.
Originally Posted by
alangore
And with the pockets helpfully cleaned out for her, too! Service at its best, indeed.
Hard to say what exactly transpired, BUT reading the article would indicate that the 'victim' left her jacket at the seat, and wanted to go back to retrieve it while already at the plane's exit door.
The FA told her that wasn't allowed but went back to get her jacked for her and proceeded to hand it to her.
She only noticed that the AirPods were missing on her next flight. Since I SERIOUSLY doubt the FA stole the AirPods, the most likely scenario is that the AirPods were NOT in the jacket's pocket as she claimed, but rather somewhere else, external to it. On the floor? On the seat? In the seatback pocket?
There is NO WAY (IMO) that a United FA would rummage through a jacket of a passenger to remove some item for purposes of theft.
I'd say United's culpability here is absolutely minimum!