When the family arrived at North Douglas International Airport that Friday afternoon, Dec 22, they learned one of their bags never arrived at the destination. — Bloomberg
A family from Miami wasn’t too relaxed while on their family vacation after their luggage had been stolen. But thanks to Apple technology, they were able to recover the stolen items, according to a media report.
“I wanted justice,” Catherine Gavino said to Queen City News on Tuesday.
The weekend before Christmas, the Gavino family was travelling from Miami to the North Carolina mountains. When they arrived at North Douglas International Airport that Friday afternoon, Dec 22, they learned one of their bags never arrived at the destination.
Searching for the bag, they were unable to find the suitcase at the baggage claim, according to what they told Queen City News.
However, Gavino’s new Apple AirTag simplified things. She was able to track the missing luggage without the need to stand in line at the airline’s customer service.
She had just happened to buy the small tracker one day before her family travelled for the vacation, placing it in her parents’ luggage the morning of their flight, just in case anything got lost, according to the news site.
When Gavino pulled out her cellphone to track the luggage, it showed it was traveling on I-85 and was on its way toward Gastonia.
That’s when the family gathered the rest of their bags, picked up their rental car, and began to follow the tracker to a neighbourhood, the site said. The only problem is they were unable to find the specific location because the AirTag stopped displaying its whereabouts after a certain point.
“Throughout the entire trip it kept showing up around Gastonia and South Carolina,” Gavino said to Queen City News.
But a miracle came after dropping off family members back at the airport because, on Christmas day, an address appeared when Gavino checked her AirTag one more time. This time, it revealed a house in Gastonia and the family pursued the AirTag to that location.
Gavino then called the police. Upon arrival, authorities found the stolen luggage, along with a different suitcase that was stolen from another victim at the airport.
Turns out, authorities told Gavino that “someone else called with the same issue. And they also had an AirTag,” she said to the news outlet.
Even though Gavino was able to get back her luggage, various items were missing.
The suspect now faces multiple charges, including theft and drug possession, Queen City News reported. – pennlive.com/Tribune News Service
