Leaving your smartphone behind can quickly become annoying. Luckily, most forgetfuls get off easier than an Australian: her forgotten iPhone flew on through the world without her.
Where’s the smartphone now? Everyone has looked for their misplaced cell phone at home, at work or somewhere else. For an Australian, this came with a shocking realization: she had left her iPhone on the plane. And could now watch it fly around the world.
The suspicion was initially different. In a frequent flyer forum, the forgetful lady’s husband asked how best to reach the airline Quantas. The user, who calls himself “Rugby”, suspected that “Ms Rugby” had left her device in the airport lounge. The update came shortly after. “According to ‘Where is?’ (Apple’s app for finding devices, editor’s note) the iPhone made it onto the plane,” added the searcher. But that didn’t make his request any easier. Because instead of being able to pick it up at the airport, he now followed it as it traveled from airport to airport.
Small trip around the world
“It flew with us from Sydney to Auckland. Then it went back to Sydney. Now it was suddenly on holiday in Honolulu,” reports Rugby. The fact that the route remained so easy to understand is due to Apple’s “Where is” system. It allows you to locate your own devices via the cloud. Because Apple not only uses the GPS chip and the Internet function of the actual device, but also allows nearby Apple devices to forward the signal, this even works if the lost iPhone is in flight mode. Just as was the case with Mrs Rugby’s model. Even the slowly draining battery is not immediately a problem: Even turned off iPhones can be tracked for a while with residual power.
However, hope was dwindling. Because: Although the owners could always say where the iPhone was, every attempt to get it back via the airline was unsuccessful. He had tried using the lounge’s hotline, he reports in update posts about several contact forms and a hotline for lost items. Unfortunately, the answer was always the same: you couldn’t help him. Ringing the phone yourself and alerting other passengers wasn’t an option because Airplane mode was on.
The frustration and disbelief grew among the forum participants as well. “How can it cross national borders multiple times without being found?” wondered another poster. “Do they clean that badly?” Others reassured: Because according to Rugby, the iPhone had probably slipped into the gap between the seats, this could also explain why it had not reappeared during routine cleaning between flights.
salvation after a week
However, another problem would still exist: an unattended device with a battery is always a fire hazard. For this reason, cordless devices must not be checked in in the hold, but must always be carried in hand luggage. In 2016, a lost iPhone caught fire on a Qantas flight. Some of the posters came up with the idea of turning this into an advantage. “You should report the iPhone as a security threat,” several suggested.
In the end that was no longer necessary. A forum participant who works for the airline has adopted the iPhone, Rugby reported after several days of worrying. They should get the device back on the return flight. And that’s how it was: Almost a week after the outward flight, it was handed over to its owners on Monday (Australian time). “Thanks to everyone who helped,” Rugby posted to the image of the apparently undamaged device. At the end of the saga, he answers the burning question of the excited discussion participants. “The little guy lasted until he got to the baggage service on Monday morning,” he reports when asked how long the battery lasted. “I imagine he gritted his teeth until he knew everything was fine now.”
Quelle:Australian Frequent Flyer
