Last Sunday, I headed to the airport to fly down to Dallas for work. I did all my normal prep work. Downloaded the requisite songs and videos to my iPhone, made sure to pack my Bose headset, threw an extra charger in my suitcase, put my ipod nano in my shoes for working out, charged my Macbook, and, of course, packed some clothes.
Deciding that I really didnt want to sit with my two coworkers, I checked to see if there was room in first class (I have a billion miles on United, and a bunch of upgrade certificates). I was in luck, first class was open.
We get on the plane, and I settle into my seat. I put on my Bose headphones (I like to sit on the right side of the plane, because the power switch on the Bose is on the right ear, and therefore, the flight attendants cant see if its on or off), attached it to my iPhone (turning on airplane mode), and stuck the iPhone in my pocket.
I always put it on the side where the headphones would plug into the console, so the flight attendants dont ask me to turn off my music. I cant stand airplane music.
About 1 hour and 15 minutes into the flight, I feel for my iPhone wanting to check out an episode of Mad Men, and as I reach down, I can feel the iPhone slipping between the seat and the center console. “Dammit!” I muttered to myself.
As I tried to pull the iPhone out by the headphone connector, suddenly the music in my ear disappeared. I knew it would take just one slip of the fingers and my iPhone would be lost. Gently, I wrestled with the iPhone; slowly it made its way out of the crevice of the seat, and just as I was about to declare victory (in my best Johnnie Chase impression), the iPhone slipped out of my fingers and into the center console.
At the conclusion of the flight, I asked for help from the flight attendant. She tried to reach into the console and reclaim my phone, but only succeeded in knocking it down further. “No worries,” she said chipperly, “give me your card and I will mail it to you when we get it out.”
Being trusting, I gave her my card, and went on my way to the hotel. And, fully expecting to have my iPhone mailed to me back in Denver, with 15 minutes to spare, I found an AT&T store, and bought a new iPhone.
Resyncing it was a breeze. In fact, this phone has worked 100 times better than my old iPhone. No crashes, no freezes. Pretty excited about that.
After three days, I returned to Denver. Wednesday, I sit down in my office and there is a package, with no return address, waiting for me on my desk. “C’mon,” I thought, “this cant be my iPhone.”
Quickly ripping open the package, there was an iPhone sized item wrapped in a protective sheet and a rubber band. With glee, I opened it to find, the first iPhone Flip Phone!
Yes, I am well aware that it is not an iPhone or even an iPhone Flip Phone. But, what amazes me is that there are only two explanations why I got the above, instead of:
Evil Theory: Some United employee decided that they liked my non-flip version of the iPhone better than their iPhone Flip Phone and decided to send me the Samsung POS.
Less Evil Theory: United found multiple phones in the console of the first class seat I was sitting in, and sent back the first phone they found to me.
My plan is to call United tomorrow and see what happens. In the worst case, I will try and contact the person who’s phone I now possess and get it back to him or her. (If you lost a Helio Samsung Fin on a United Flight shoot me an email).
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