cricketdog

Hoping I can get a frequent flyer’s attention.

My daughter found your iPhone in the side of the seat when we boarded our flight. Your drivers license is in the case. California ID. Your flight landed at Gate C14 at IAH from Sacramento.

I gave the phone to the flight attendant. He appears to be trying to locate you. I hope your phone makes its way back to you!

IAH-OIL-TRASH

A good reason to keep contact info updated w/ United. It's actually pretty awesome that the phone came with an ID - should make it considerably easier to connect phone (and ID) w/ owner.

Left my ID at LAS a couple of months ago - it showed up in mail about a week later from airport lost and found without me even contacting them. It's amazing how happy one can get when something like that happens.

zombietooth

Did you try using SIRI to call "home", "dad", "mom", etc.? I found a brand new fingerprint locked iPhone recently and the way I found the owner was by trying various SIRI commands until I found someone who knew the owner.

cricketdog

I didn’t even think to try that. Bummer. The flight attendant was thrilled that the ID was there.

I lost my phone on a United flight last Christmas. It never turned up through lost and found but someone did try to unlock it (unsuccessfully) about 6 months later.

LarryJ

This site makes ID labels that you can put on your stuff to help them find their way home if they get lost.

https://idmystuff.com/

I include my name, phone number, and email address on the labels as phone number alone isn't going to help much if I lose my phone. They stick well and last a long time.

cmd320

For the future, I'd suggest just hanging on to the phone and trying to get it back to the party yourself, especially if you have their ID and therefore street address and full name.

I trust that the FA is likely a pretty safe person to give it to, but I certainly wouldn't turn it into a gate agent or some random ground staff member, etc. because you just really don't know how trustworthy they may be. Of course do what you think is right given the situation, but I feel like if it were my phone, the fewer parties it went through to get back to me, the lower chance of theft by a less than respectable individual.

Good on you though for taking the time to do the right thing and trying to get this individual their property back!

lincolnjkc

As a counterpoint I'd feel much more comfortable with it in the airlines' system -- with an established and robust lost property scheme -- than in some random passenger's hands. Not so much because I don't trust the passenger but because I have more faith in getting reconnected with my property.

A few years ago I had something similar play out -- I have a moneyclip that I keep cash, my DL, and my personal credit card in and a "work wallet" that has my corporate credit cards, UA club/FQTV/AAA/Costco membership/... cards. I always have the money clip, don't always use the wallet. I was on a personal trip but had the wallet in my jeans for some reason -- well, apparently had until some point mid-flight on xxx-LAX.

I'm riding down the 405 in the back of my dad's car with my then-girlfriend (now wife) next to me and I get a call from a number I don't recognize -- answer it -- "Hi, this is United Airlines in Calgary. Your wallet was turned in to us" "Uh..." as I grab my back pocket and take a peek in my laptop bag, finding it in neither place and for the first time realizing it ws missing "...ummm....thanks, how can I get it back?" "Where are you?" "Los Angeles" Their turn to "Ummmmmmm" -- apparently the fact it crossed the international border but I didn't (still haven't been to Calgary despite having several friends there) made it significantly more complicated -- to the point where they had to call me back after consulting with legal -- but the rest of this long story short, UPS picked it up from the UA ticket counter at Calgary and I had it back in my office by the time I got home from the trip. Everything was fully accounted for.

zombietooth

The strange thing about the phone I found is that it was in the middle of a state highway. I saw it when I was walking my dog and ran out and grabbed it. I was pondering how you lose something like that while driving without noticing it. I found the owner within an hour of them losing it, luckily for them. If it had sat in the road for much longer it most certainly would've been crushed.

dordal

I'd second the 'try to contact the owner yourself and then turn it in' plan.

I found a phone in the bathroom at OAK two years or so ago. I was able to redial the last called number with Google's voice assistant (it was an Android phone), and left a message that I was turning the phone in at the gate. I don't know if the guy ever got his phone back, but I figure that it was likely he got the message, and hopefully got the phone.

supine

People often put stuff on the roof of their car when they have their hands full and then forget something before jumping in and driving off. Depending on their route, driving patterns and their car it can take some time for a relatively aerodynamic object like a phone lying flat to fall off the car.

I saw some dashcam footage recently where something like that had happened but instead of falling onto the road, the phone slid down the rear window of the wagon and was stuck in the wiper. The dashcam car was behind them on an autobahn offramp and when they stopped at the next lights the dashcam car passenger jumped out, grabbed the phone and handed it back to the (presumably very surprised and thankful) driver...

Often1

I would always turn it in. Best to a GA.

Old Gold

About 5 years ago I was a volunteer with the US Forest Service, working on a remote mountain in SE Arizona, one of the "Sky Islands". I found a phone along the side of the road. There was no ID or "home" in the directory. I redialed the last number called and was able to obtain the home number of the owner. I called and talked with the owner's husband, he offered me $100 if I would bring the phone to his home. That would have involved about a 1 hour detour from my trip home the next week. The next day one of my Forest Service contacts came by and said that he would take the phone to the district office and have them mail the phone back to the owner. Your tax dollars at work.

zombietooth

Great story!