EPTUPDATE 2: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=344383¤tpage=4#76
I just got back from the Washington Dulles airport after a crazy night.
To preface, on my flight from SNA to Dulles, I had a window seat, 22F. The middle seat 22E was empty. In the aisle seat, 22D, sat an old woman.
So right after my plane landed around midnight, but before it had pulled up to the gate, I decided that I really needed to pee. So I headed to the bathroom in the back and did my business. During that time, the plane had pulled up to the gate, and people started shuffling off the plane. Before I went to the bathroom, I had set down my iPhone and earbuds on the empty middle seat -- since I figured I'd be right back.
But since people was already shuffling, I was stuck at the back of the line. Eventually, I got to row 22 where I was sitting, and discover that my iPhone is missing. My laptop bag was still under the seat, but my iPhone and earbuds were no where to be found. The stewardess then comes up to me and says that the old lady (whose name is Karen, I'll get to her in a bit) was worried that I had already left and forgotten to take the phone. Okay great, I said. So I rush out of the plane and track down the lady, who walked pretty slow. I ask her about my iPhone.
Surprised, she said "but I already gave it to you." "Oh crap," I think. To cut the conversation with her short, apparently she gave it to someone else as she was getting off the plane thinking that that person was me. She asked that person "Is this yours?" And the guy took it. She could only describe him as wearing a black shirt, black pants, and in her words "he looked Oriental".
Yeah, yeah, all look same.
The old lady was super apologetic, and felt very bad about the situation. I did too, since she was ultimately just trying to help. In any case, she left me her name, address and phone in case I needed to contact her. She offers to pay for it, but it feels like a dick move to make an 80 year old lady pay $400 for trying to do the right thing.
So basically, some strange Asian man had my phone. It was then I realized that I had activated Find My iPhone on my iPhone recently, and that I should be able to track it down. I try to do so. It fails, the phone is offline. And then I remember it was because the phone was in airplane mode. In any case, I set an alert on the Apple website to send me an email when the phone comes online. I did some halfhearted searches of baggage claim and left an email with the United lost and found.
At that point, I didn't have much hope, and I was prepared to suck up the loss and take the lesson to not leave a phone lying around. But then, as the bus I had gotten on to go to the parking lot my car was just about to leave the terminal, I get an email sound on my iPad.
My iPhone had just come online. It had been located.
I dashed off the bus, iPad in hand and went to look for an airport employee, because the iPhone's current location appeared to be a road for buses. It turns out it was. Whoever had my phone at that point, was on a bus heading to the same parking lots that I was.
At this point I realize that in my excitement in having located the phone, I had dashed off the bus without bringing my bags. Both my laptop bag and my duffel containing the Nikon D4 were on the bus that had, while I was asking about the iPhone's location, left the terminal. In a panic, I ran to the first bus that pulled up to the terminal. The driver was able to phone central control and get the driver driving the bus my bags were on to stop at the central bus exchange. He then very graciously drove me to the central bus exchange.
All this while, I was updating the iPhone's location with my iPad. From the movement of the location, it looked lke the guy had gotten off the bus, gotten into his car, and was driving out of the airport to somewhere in Virginia.
I should also mention that my iPad was at 2% battery life and was about to die. And with its death, any chance of continuing to locate the iPhone.
Any way, after I got to the central bus exchange, my bags were indeed there, and I got them back. At this point, my iPad died. Figuring that I'd give one more chance, I asked the supervisor of the shuttle buses if I could use his computer to locate the phone. He said sure.
I tried. icloud.com, Apple's site where a web version of Find My IPhone was located, was blocked by the airport's site filtering as an inappropriate site.
*facepalm*
About to give up, one of the bus drivers who happened to be lounging in the central exchange offices said that he had an iPhone I could use. I did so. I downloaded the Find my iPhone app and logged in.
Bingo. The location popped up. And this time, it stayed still after multiple refreshes. It was in a residential neighborhood of townhomes. It wasn't moving. It looked like the guy had gotten home.
I was all set to just grab a taxi and head over there to see if I could find the guy (at this point it was around 2am), but one of the drivers warned (rightfully) that it was probably not the greatest or safest idea. Then he said that the Dulles police station was right around the corner from the bus exchange.
I decided to head over there.
A cop was on duty, and after telling him my story, he decides that I should file a theft report. He asks if the iPhone is still at the location previously discovered at the bus exchange.
I ask to use his computer to go to iCloud. He lets me. I try.
icloud.com is banned by the police department's site filters.
*double facepalm*
At this point, I'm using my laptop to charge the iPad (which if you've ever tried, is a ridiculously slow process if you're recharging from a completely drained iPad). But it takes a while to file a theft report anyways, so I let it charge.
TIL that a theft report takes several hours to file. By the time we were done, it was close to 4:30am. In any case, the iPad chargees and turn on, and I resume refreshing the iPhone's location. It remains constant on the house.
The cop tries to call my iPhone a few times, and though it goes through and rings, no one answers.
At this point, the cop's prepared to drive over there and check out the block that the iPhone was at. I ask if I can come along. The cop asks his Captain. The Captain says that for liablity reasons, they're not able to bring me along.
So the cop, at this point feeling angry about the situation and also possibly feeling like being part of a CSI episode (which is what he said when I first showed him the Find My iPhone feature -- he wasn't very tech savvy and barely knew what an iPhone was) -- any way, the cop tells me that he'll go there immediately after he finishes filing the theft report paperwork I had just filled out. He claimed that he shoudl have it filed within 20 minutes and that he'll head down there immediately.
And since I didn't have a cell phone that he could reach me at, I gave him my girlfriends number. The cop tells me that he's glad that he finally has something to do since he always has the midnight shift, gives me his cell phone number and multiple ways of getting into contact with him. He tells me that I should call him again in the morning to see if he's found anything out. And that he'll call my gf if his going to the iPhone location goes anywhere.
Apparently, the cop couldn't just go knocking on every door on the block looking for an Asian man who had just returned from a flight from San Francisco. Or at least he couldn't during the night and had to wait during the day. He said that he'd drive by the block though, and see if any lights were on -- and if any came on if he called the iPhone from the block.
So that's the story so far. I'm dead tired and about to pass out. I'll call the cop when I wake up.
And here's where my iPhone is:
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11056840/Screenshots/~jpk.jpg)
And also, fuck internet filters. Fuck them. It feels weird when the police cant even go to a site that could potentially tell them where stolen property is located.
UPDATE: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=344383¤tpage=3#41
UPDATE 2: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=344383¤tpage=4#76
good luck man
