Woman's lost luggage located at airport baggage handler's home

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A flyer who lost her checked luggage last month found out that it was at an airport baggage handler’s home, thanks to her Apple AirTag and a police investigation.

According to The New York Times, the woman took a Delta/Air France flight to Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on July 14. Her bag containing clothes, makeup, and other things worth US$1,648 — roughly C$2,142 — never arrived.

Two weeks after she landed, she received an AirTag notification showing her that her lost luggage was in a town close to the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport.

An AirTag is a tracking device that has seen a spike in popularity among travellers recently. As airports around the world juggle unprecedented passenger traffic, checked bags are often lost, delayed, or mismanaged, leading flyers to take things into their own hands and use trackers as such.

The woman’s notification led to a police investigation, during which officers scanned the addresses of airport employees.

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It turned out that a baggage handler at the airport had taken the luggage to his own home. Nineteen-year-old Giovanni De Luca worked at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, and unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time he’d stolen from a passenger.

A few days after the AirTag notification, another airport worker had filed a complaint with police against De Luca, who was seen going through another passenger’s checked bag on the outgoing conveyor belt.

Then, on August 9, a flyer taking off from the same airport told police he was missing US$15,000 worth of items from his luggage.

The next day, police showed up at De Luca’s residence, where they found the missing items. Police interrogation led to him confessing that he had, in fact, gone through the luggage with the Apple AirTag, and had destroyed the AirTag.

De Luca was arrested, charged, and slapped with three felony counts of grand theft on August 10. Delta Airlines cooperated with investigators, but unfortunately, the woman’s “lost” luggage was never found.

The New York Times reports that it was “unclear” if De Luca had legal counsel, but he was released from jail a day later.