Report: What happened with that phone we lost on our Delta flight:)

that's a bit of relief. I remember when it started its journey

That's great! I'm so glad you found your phone, and I hope it enjoyed its adventure. :) Kudos to Delta indeed.

Yay for Delta. That was a good outcome, thanks for the update.

I left a portable hard drive in the seat-back pocket on a United flight. It was found and returned to me in 4 days.

Thanks, United.

There are more honest people out there than some think. I turn stuff in. So do others.

Wow, you got it back! That’s amazing! And you didn’t lose Ron on your trip ( maybe you really don’t need it😜)!

Valerie, did it take any photos?

So glad you got it back. I bet the unnamed member of your party who lost his phone won't do THAT again !!!

It sure was a good outcome! Saved us at least $500 to buy a new phone.

As to traveling without a phone for Ron? Well, it was okay, but it made me nervous every time we split up for even a few minutes. Ron likes to wander and just pays no attention to where he is;)

🤩💕. That is awesome that “Not-Valerie’s-phone” was home waiting for you! 💕🤩

And yes, I too am glad you made it home with Ron!

Hope you had an awesome time!

My daughter says I look like a “loser tourist”, but I purchased a lanyard type thing on Amazon. I love it for flights because it just stays “attached to me” I also like it as we wander around cities. Then I don’t set my phone down when I’m taking a photo, or reading a map or guidebook and lose it.

I’m glad you got your phone back! My son once left his iPod in a seat back on a Sun Country flight. I drove to the airport and A Sun Country employee drove out to the hangar to get into the plane. My son was beyond grateful

Glad all ended well and thanks for posting a good job call out to Delta. (NOT ME) left the laptop at the gate when we changed planes and Southwest had found it before we knew it was gone. They do get a lot right actually. Safe travels.

one of my first instincts would have been to remotely wipe the phone to make my life easier if it had been stolen. It sounds like your un-named owner's phone came back just as it was when lost.

Had you thought of wiping the phone?

@Nigel - That’s a good question. The answer is complicated, possibly because we are idiots about technology.

We did make an immediate attempt to lock the phone and report it stolen. The status of this never changed from “Pending” so we were never sure if we were successful. We tried numerous times - using the iPad that Ron did NOT leave on the Delta flight.

And maybe we did lock it. Because his iMessage app would not work on the iPad and when we researched that issue, we saw that iMessage won’t work on an iPad without a related iPhone.

But it’s weird because, when we got home, plugged in the iPhone and turned it on, all of the iMessages we had been trying to send out from Europe came through and it was a massive Pingfest here.

There’s no Apple Pay on the phone, no credit cards stored to any websites - heck there’s nothing on there but a browser and his email - all protected with his fingerprint.

So, did we handle it badly? I really don’t know. The advice on this site is always helpful so feel free to reprimand us.

Also, note to all of us - future issues like this can obviously be avoided by confiscating Ron’s phone;)

But it’s weird because, when we got home, plugged in the iPhone and turned it on, all of the iMessages we had been trying to send out from Europe came through and it was a massive Pingfest here.

That doesn’t sound weird at all. Does your phone automatically lock after a certain amount of time (that usually is the default). Odds are, your phone was on but locked and the battery died after a couple of days. When you got home, all those messages that came in while the battery was dead came through.

It is great you got it back.

In September 2022, my brother lost his phone on a tour bus between Naples and the Pompeii site, which is about 15 miles away.

We were at the entry to Pompeii when my brother noticed it was missing. He told me to go ahead while he went looking for it. About 45 minutes later, we met up again in the Pompeii forum. He didn't find the phone.

It was hard to enjoy Pompeii -- an amazing, 2,000-year-old site -- because my brother couldn't think of anything but his phone on which he heavily relied for his job.

Hours later, as we approached the same bus, the driver was standing at the door, holding my brother's phone. He found it in the seat pocket. My brother thanked him profusely and gave him a very generous tip.