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Phone lost at IAH (17 Aug 2018) & now found

Phone lost at IAH (17 Aug 2018) & now found

Old Aug 21, 2018, 4:58 pm
  #46  
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Originally Posted by scottsam66
Care to amend your review of the situation, where you were pretty emphatic that you left it for 30 secs, and someone stole it?
If I found a phone unattended, I'd pick it up and turn it in. If the person who forgot it came back 30 seconds later, I'd hate to be called a thief.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 5:09 pm
  #47  
 
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Originally Posted by economyplusfan
During this whole ordeal a friend of mine mentioned that one would think that with all of the social media outlets we have it should be possible to simply post an alert that help is needed at a given location. For example, were an FTer available in Terminal E at IAH on the morning of August 16 I could have directed them to my phone's location as determined by the Find My iPhone APP and set off the lost phone alarm so that they could hear it, find it and return it to me. I am wondering if there is scope to set up such an "Immediate Boots on the Ground Help Needed" thread on FT. Note that the thread would not be tied to a specific airline, as this one is, since what we need are FT bodies at a specified location. I have noted calls for help on FT such as mine from time to time, but I stumble upon them rather than see them as a directed outcome from FT. One could even set up notifications, like an Amber Alert, when an FTer needs help. FTers could opt in or out of the notifications, as they wish. Thoughts?
It's a good idea, but I have serious doubts on whether it would work or not. The last thing we need are people who are self-proclaimed 'authorities' demanding a passenger hand over a phone that they heard ring (or thought they heard ring) with escalations occurring. If a phone was left in a 'private' environment like a lounge, club, or something, then maybe the device would sit there for some time being. But, with a majority of devices not simply sitting around and someone picking them up (Exhibit A is the OP's story), we're going to end up with much more "I heard it ring, give it to me" kind of stories.

Plus, how would we know if the person demanding the phone is authentic or not. Anyone could easily pretend to be in touch with you and say it's their device when it's not. This is why UA and other establishments demand a positive ID check of you, the device owner.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 5:14 pm
  #48  
 
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If I found an iPhone on top of a paper boarding pass and decided to pick it up to turn it in to lost and found, I'd probably pick up both, since the name/PNR on the boarding pass would help reunite the phone with its owner. If I had time, I'd even go to the gate for that flight and give it to the GA so they could page the passenger at the gate.

Seems it could have been:

(1) someone thought it was unattended, picked it up to turn it in (and failed to grab the boarding pass)
(2) someone picked it up thinking it was theirs, later realized they had two phones, turned it in
(3) someone stole it from the bathroom, later decided it wasn't worth it and dropped it off somewhere where it was later found and turned in (or maybe even turned it in themselves)
(4) OP actually set it down somewhere other than where they thought they did (a different sink, on the hand dryer, fell out of their purse in the terminal, etc.) and it was found there.

I think we will never know for sure!
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 10:32 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by threeoh
If I found an iPhone on top of a paper boarding pass and decided to pick it up to turn it in to lost and found, I'd probably pick up both, since the name/PNR on the boarding pass would help reunite the phone with its owner. If I had time, I'd even go to the gate for that flight and give it to the GA so they could page the passenger at the gate.

Seems it could have been:

(1) someone thought it was unattended, picked it up to turn it in (and failed to grab the boarding pass)
(2) someone picked it up thinking it was theirs, later realized they had two phones, turned it in
(3) someone stole it from the bathroom, later decided it wasn't worth it and dropped it off somewhere where it was later found and turned in (or maybe even turned it in themselves)
(4) OP actually set it down somewhere other than where they thought they did (a different sink, on the hand dryer, fell out of their purse in the terminal, etc.) and it was found there.

I think we will never know for sure!
All plausible. What I don't understand is why whoever found it via scenarios 1, 2, and 4 did not take some kind of action to get in touch with me immediately. Even those less generous than threeoh could simply use a voice command to "call home", which would have worked since I have home as a contact for just these occasions. Or they could have responded to the lost iPhone message that I installed on the home screen within an hour of losing it. I even pinged the phone four times to alert whoever had it that there was now a message on the screen. Indeed, when United lost and found contacted me to say they had my phone they used the number in the lost iPhone message (the number I placed in the lost items report was different).


Last edited by economyplusfan; Aug 21, 2018 at 10:41 pm Reason: Tried to shrink the size of the attached image, to no avail.
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Old Aug 22, 2018, 4:27 am
  #50  
 
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Originally Posted by economyplusfan
Even those less generous than threeoh could simply use a voice command to "call home", which would have worked since I have home as a contact for just these occasions.

How often, exactly, do you lose your phone?

Glad you located the phone; although I am still not convinced it was ever "stolen" in this instance.
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Old Aug 22, 2018, 8:47 am
  #51  
TA
 
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Originally Posted by economyplusfan
...I turned on the cell service remotely....
Can you explain what / how you did this? How did it have a connection for you to do something on the phone remotely, if the cell service was off?
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Old Aug 22, 2018, 9:41 am
  #52  
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Originally Posted by TA
Can you explain what / how you did this? How did it have a connection for you to do something on the phone remotely, if the cell service was off?
The steps I took, as I recall, were as follows:

1. Track the phone's location on Find my iPhone.
2. Put the phone in Lost mode using Find my iPhone.
3. Disable the account at my carrier.The phone was in this state when United called me at the number listed on the phone's home screen, so doing this must not wipe out the Lost iPhone message on the home screen.
4. Enable the account at my carrier.

After the last step Find my iPhone was able to locate the phone at United's L&F in terminal B. I do not believe I was able to locate the phone prior to turning the cell service back on.

Last edited by economyplusfan; Aug 22, 2018 at 9:47 am
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Old Aug 28, 2018, 5:13 pm
  #53  
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Originally Posted by kale73
I wouldn't give up so quickly. Several years ago I left an iPad in the seat-back pocket of a UAX flight inbound to IAH. I was involved in a VDB that happened after I had boarded the flight and while de-boarding to accept the VDB I forgot my iPad. I realized it about 5 minutes after the plane departed and notified the gate agent, who said she was able to get word to the receiving GA at IAH (not sure about that, but that's what I was told). When I got to IAH about an hour later, I went to the gate where my original flight had arrived. No sign of the iPad. I chalked it up as lost.

Four weeks later I got a phone call from United Lost & Found: "Kale73, we've found your iPad. Where would you like it shipped?"
Indeed, patience has paid off, as you suggest. I received an email from United today (8 days after I was notified that they had the phone in their possession at IAH) asking for shipping information and a credit card payment for shipping. Yippee!! Thanks to all at FT for the education and advice, and a special thanks to COSPILOT for offering to collect my phone from United baggage in IAH.
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Old Aug 28, 2018, 11:55 pm
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by economyplusfan
Indeed, patience has paid off, as you suggest. I received an email from United today (8 days after I was notified that they had the phone in their possession at IAH) asking for shipping information and a credit card payment for shipping. Yippee!! Thanks to all at FT for the education and advice, and a special thanks to COSPILOT for offering to collect my phone from United baggage in IAH.
Congratulations! Any word on how or where it was recovered?
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Old Aug 29, 2018, 10:26 am
  #55  
 
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WOW !!!

Congrats.......go buy a Powerball ticket today.
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Old Aug 29, 2018, 2:29 pm
  #56  
 
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I had a similar story just come to closure not too long ago:

Back in April, I left my work phone on a flight from PIT-EWR. I realized I had left it on the flight after moving to the UC, went back to the gate and the plane had already left. No turn ins to lost and found. I wrote the phone off and went on my way to AMS.

FFWD to about a month ago, I got an email from a nice lady at the lost and found depot at IAH saying they had a phone they think belonged to me (not sure how as I never filed a report) and asked me for details. Provided the details, the woman confirmed and overnighted the phone to my house. Received in perfect condition - easily one of my more favorable United CS moments.
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