Traveller accuses BA staff of pocketing his AirPods tracking them on Find My app

Oh no! Lost AirPods are a very 21st Century travel problem. Photo / Screenshot Twitter

A passenger has accused airline staff of pocketing his expensive earphones after tracking them to BA's London training school.

Apple's Bluetooth earphones 'AirPods' have a unique quirk to counter the risk of losing them. Users can use the Find My devices app to keep tabs on the pricey, $400 wireless earbuds. A handy trick for the tiny devices, which have a habit of separating from their owners and each other.

This week a BA passenger took to social media to claim his AirPods were taken by an Airport Worker after reporting them lost.

Tim Briggs said his wireless earbuds went missing after a flight from Texas to London three weeks ago.

Having reported them as missing to the airline, he noticed they began wandering on his app.

The pods appeared to be commuting daily to the Global Learning Academy, at Heathrow Airport. Three weeks later they were still making the journey, he assumed, in the ears of an employee at the airport. He inferred from the fact they were still charged meant they were in use.

A spokesperson for BA said they were working with Briggs to track down the earphones.

"We are currently investigating the matter," the airline told the Daily Mail.

It was made clear that the person who was now in possession of the pods was not necessarily an employee of BA.

AirPods: A modern travel mystery

International travel is unsurprisingly the most perilous time for losing earbuds.

Unwittingly we have been presented with a travel accessory that can tell you exactly where your luggage is, but not how to get it back.

Twitter is full of forlorn screenshots of wandering AirPods being tracked around the globe.

why is it all of a sudden in the middle of downtown pic.twitter.com/iQmldaH9Bg

— n (@eatuchiha) June 29, 2022

"left my AirPod at the airport .. like i'm never seeing her again," reads one.

There's a particular schadenfreude from seeing Left and Right earphones from a $600 set of AirPod Pros separated on either side of Europe.

Some passengers have suggested using a single AirPod to keep track of luggage, lost in transit.

However the most infuriating part of being able to track the AirPods from anywhere is not being able to get them back.

oh no :( pic.twitter.com/ETpAACR46L

— elliott (@ellx_tt) June 28, 2022