How AirTag helped West Hollywood man retrieve stolen luggage – NBC Los Angeles

A West Hollywood man Friday urged air travelers to put an AirTag in their suitcase as many plan to fly for the Labor day weekend.

Daniel Scott said after a long flight from Salt Lake City last week, all he wanted to do was to pick up his suitcase from baggage claim and return home. But after moving from one carousel to another, no one was able to locate his bag.

When Scott checked his phone to track the Apple AirTag inside his suitcase, he saw it moving toward the rideshare lot and leaving the airport.

“I immediately started sprinting to the Uber lot. Once I got to the Uber lot, I saw that it was continuing to move, and it had reached across the street,” Scott described. “At that point, I’m like someone stole my bag for sure.”

The AirTag movement stopped a half mile away, Scott said, at a boarded-up abandoned building near Sepulveda Boulevard and 98th Street.

“I knew my luggage tag said that it was in the vicinity,” Scott said, adding his partner immediately called LAX police.

When officers arrived, they used their flashlight to shine light inside the abandoned building.

“And then when the guys came to the window, (officers) lined them up in the window. I saw the guy with my clothes on – my shoes on, my shirt on, my pants on,” Scott described.

Video showed LAX police detaining several people. Once they cleared the building, Scott was able to go in and look for the suitcase.

What he found was the sliced-up luggage with his clothes scattered in multiple rooms within the building. 

Scott said he was happy to get 90% of his clothes back but urged other travels to use the AirTag device if they can. 

“It just gave me a fighting chance to find my luggage and retrieve it,” he said. “Craziest part of the tip – it was insane, absolutely.”