Spirit Airlines passenger tracks stolen luggage using Apple Watch in Florida

The woman's Apple Watch location feature showed her bag just 15 minutes away from the airport. Photo / 123rf

An airport worker almost got away with stealing a traveller’s suitcase but was tripped up by one small detail: the bag he stole had an Apple Watch inside.

Paola Garcia beat police to the home of a man who stole her luggage thanks to the tracking feature in her Apple Watch.

Garcia’s holiday ended on a sour note when she arrived at Florida’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport but her bag did not.

Desperate to be reunited with her small hard-shell bag, which had her MacBook laptop, two Apple Watches and other valuables inside, the Spirit Airlines passenger waited at the baggage carousel for two hours but it never appeared.

Garcia told Florida news outlet Local 10 that Spirit Airlines staff told her not to worry as the bag would be sent to her house when it was found.

Yet the following day, Garcia got an alert from one of the Apple Watches in her suitcase. The destination it showed was not the airport or near her house but a residential address 15 minutes away.

So Garcia hopped in her car and drove to the address, confused about why Spirit Airlines delivered the suitcase there despite her giving them her address.

When she arrived at the property, Garcia allegedly saw many suitcases outside the house and called the police, who were initially confused about how Garcia had hunted down her belongings.

They then said it was dangerous for her to be there.

The property was later revealed to be the home of 29-year-old Junior Bazile, who worked at one of the airport’s retail stores. According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Bazile was allegedly working at the airport the day Garcia’s luggage went missing. An investigation later discovered photos of the man with Garcia’s suitcase at the airport.

Bazile had already gotten rid of Garcia’s belongings and has since been charged with grand theft, a felony in Florida if the value of the stolen items is more than US$750 ($1228). The maximum penalty for the charge is reportedly 30 years in prison and fines can be up to US$10,000.

Spirit Airlines told Local 10 it had reimbursed Garcia as a courtesy, even though there was no proof a Spirit employee was involved in the theft.

Garcia doubted Bazile was the only person involved in the theft.

“One person can’t just do that, take bags,” she said. “I don’t think it’s one person working in the airport, I think it’s a group.”

It appears Bazile did not learn from an almost identical situation in Florida two years ago.

In July 2022, a traveller put a tracking device in her bag, which was declared “lost” when she arrived at Destin-Fort Walton Beach, but two weeks later her Apple AirTag showed the bag was at a residential address near the airport.

After calling the police, they discovered a 19-year-old airport worker had stolen her bag and others’. The baggage handler, identified as Giovanni De Luca, was arrested in August and charged with two felony counts of grand theft, having stolen more than $26,214 worth of items.