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Stolen iPhone4 from "Gate Checked Baggage" on UNITED
- Thread starter sevimli
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That really sucks, man! 
Personally, I keep anything of real value on me. My phone, laptop, camera, etc. I guess I just don't trust people.
Personally, I keep anything of real value on me. My phone, laptop, camera, etc. I guess I just don't trust people.
Excuse me, I think you people saying this seem to be confusing the "it's smarter to do it this way." with "you deserve to have stuff stolen unless you do it the smart way".
I know we don't live in an ideal world, but he should not have to worry about it being stolen if it was checked in. The person solely at fault is the one who stole the phone!!!!!
Yes, he could have been smarter, he would have his phone now, and no worry on whether he is out hte money or not. Yes, it would have ended up better for him. But, that doesn't mean he should have had to do it that way or that he should take responsibility for it being gone.
I mean, I totally agree I would never check my bag with my valuables in (they all go in a backpack that fits in the seat underneath me. Don't even need overhead bin space). But that doesn't mean I think he deserves to have it stolen or that he should have to eat the cost. United should have people working for them that aren't stealing phones and therefore it is their responsibility that it's stolen! Not his.
Oh, and on top of that, he has said multiple times he feels embarassed he let it be checked in, so I don't even see any arguement that he isn't owning up to making a bad decision. Still not his fault it was stolen though.
Not banging on the OP, nor personally attacking.
The OPs tardiness, poor packing, decision to buy and travel with the phone all on the OP.
First and foremost being tardy is the root cause of the whole situation, again on the OP, not united.
Therefor it's the OPs fault. Their actions ultimately lead to the disappearance.
On time we wouldn't be commenting.
Late to the gate, someone is out a phone.
Blame united and divert the blame, but the OP initiated the series of mistakes and misopportunities.
I feel for the OP and it shameful someone took advantage of their misfortune but it falls squarely on the OP
Well, if the people at united had been paying attention, they would of realized they didn't need to force a gate check on the OP - as there was still room in the overhead bins. In addition, they didn't even go and ask the OP if there was anything they needed in there (which they are supposed to do, as I recall) - good thing none of them need any medication.
And for what it's worth - you might go and say "not banging/attacking the OP" but you are.
In the end, it was ultimately the choice to steal by someone working for United that lead to the disappearance.
Commenting on the circumstances that lead to it. The OP appears to be a stand up person that came here to share his experience without whining. As I said I feel for them and the outcome of their travels.
In your post I see they, I am assuming United. The person taking the bags had no idea what was in them, if the passengers needed anything and so forth. If the passenger was on time it probably would not have happened.
Being late may of been the OP fault but that does not stop gate checking because of overhead being full. You can be completely on time and that still happens so that is on United.
People here really just go off on the OP when the only thing I see he has done wrong was being a little late.
United force them to Gate check with out asking if their was anything they wanted out of their bags (United Fault)
United lost his original form about being late (United Fault)
Item was stole out of his bag (United fault)
So for the most part this read 95% on united and 5% on the original poster as far as I can tell.
In that situation (checking in the carry-on due to lack of room) they are to check! Unless you really think United wants some kind of medical emergency on their plane (emergency/immediate need medical items are frequently in carry-on luggage).
Yes, criminals never steal things or go through other peoples belonging, looking for something to steal, without knowing what is in the bags/whatever before they do so...
Going through an airport with a Apple Store bag with a small object like that? I wouldn't recommend it. The OP probably would grabbed it out though if the people in the plane had remembered to ask if there was anything they needed out of their carry on before it got gate-checked.
Taking United to Small Claims Court is not difficult, and despite the views expressed by some here, the OP is not the least responsible for his loss which was obviously the result of theft by an employee of the airline. When United takes intended carry-on luggage from a passenger who had no prior intention of checking it under the pressure of a flight preparing for takeoff, and never cautions the passenger to first remove everything on the list it had posted among pages of fine print, it is unreasonable to excuse United from its common carrier liability.
The requirement of reporting within 24 hours is similarly ridiculous. That time is too long to search the employees on shift, and not long enough to ensure that passengers have had a reasonable time to inventory their belongings and make a report. United isn't at all prejudiced in defending the claim if it doesn't receive the report in 48 or 72 hours or longer.
Of course, United doesn't help its position by claiming a failure to report in a timely manner when it is crystal clear to United that it received the report within 24 hours, and that a similar report was made to the credit card company and the police.
Go file a lawsuit against them. They may not even bother paying a lawyer to appear in court. In any case, you ought to win the full replacement cost of the phone. And put in a call to the papers and TV local news and get them a copy of the complaint when you file it. If it's a slow news day, they might pick it up and lob a call into United who will want to avoid the publicity.
Talk to a lawyer if you're not comfortable representing yourself.
The requirement of reporting within 24 hours is similarly ridiculous. That time is too long to search the employees on shift, and not long enough to ensure that passengers have had a reasonable time to inventory their belongings and make a report. United isn't at all prejudiced in defending the claim if it doesn't receive the report in 48 or 72 hours or longer.
Of course, United doesn't help its position by claiming a failure to report in a timely manner when it is crystal clear to United that it received the report within 24 hours, and that a similar report was made to the credit card company and the police.
Go file a lawsuit against them. They may not even bother paying a lawyer to appear in court. In any case, you ought to win the full replacement cost of the phone. And put in a call to the papers and TV local news and get them a copy of the complaint when you file it. If it's a slow news day, they might pick it up and lob a call into United who will want to avoid the publicity.
Talk to a lawyer if you're not comfortable representing yourself.
Hope you never have a minor thing go wrong in your life then because clearly you are perfect.
I have read the whinny post from people before that really did not have much credibility behind them but this guys post seems pretty legit and he did everything right. It was United that screwed up.
They took the bags from him before he had a chance to pull it out.
Personally I am tired of the airlines who do not enforce carry on limit size. I did say thank you to one ticket person at gate who was a hard line about forcing bags to be check that were over sized. He had a lot of pissed off people at him and no less than 10 bag that were being check. Full flight and if your bag was over sized it was being checked.
Btw I was flying carry on only on that flight and choose to limit what I brought so I could do carry on only. That meant smaller suit case designed for it and backpack only.
The over head bins were still nearly max out and it was a great help that we did not have to deal with all the over sized bags.
My GF has flown AA before she got there ontime check in and they forced her carry on bag to be check with out giving her time to pull out stuff.
I know when I fly I put several items in my carry on like my iPod touch, calculator, car keys, and sometimes even my cell phone. Having them check on my would really screw me up.
Thank you for your comments, I re-submitted my proof of submission to the United again, it is clear that they are just disregarding my emails.
This was my main point, they denied my claim for no valid reason, I guess I just got a "copy&paste" letter.
I will get an appointment from my legal advisor as soon as I can.
I'll keep you posted.
This was my main point, they denied my claim for no valid reason, I guess I just got a "copy&paste" letter.
I will get an appointment from my legal advisor as soon as I can.
I'll keep you posted.
I disagree placing the majority of the blame on United.
The OPs admitted failure to arrive at the gate in a timely manner which was the catalyst of the ordeal. United then had to cater additional services to the OP.
if the OP was the third person to board the plane, would my opinion of the matter be judged as an attack on the OP, I don't think so. Because this never would of happened.
As stated my others and me, the iphone would have never left my hand. As far as the apple bag goes, back pack.
I have had many things go wrong at the worst possible time.
I lost my wallet somewhere between my market checkout and my truck. 100 feet. $400 dollars in the wallet, credit cards, medical insurance card and license. this 20 minutes prior to leaving for an all day concert event.
I can't prove the checkout person put the wallet in their pocket just before leaving early for the day. Looking back I failed to put the wallet in my pocket.
Everyone is allowed a bag that fits under their seat. That is why I have a back pack for travelling.
United was in full control of the boarding process. If the OP arrived at the gate too late United had every right to deny boarding. Once, however, United permitted his family to board, and accepted his gate checked luggage, handing him a receipt, United accepted responsibility for it. Certainly the OP arriving late was the reason his bags were gate checked, but obviously if the overhead space on the plane is inadequate to accommodate all the carry-on luggage passengers are entitled to bring onboard, then some passengers are certain to be required to gate check. Yes, the OP arriving sooner may have shifted his misfortune to someone else, but that does not make him the lawful prey of the first baggage-handler to rummage through his belongings.
You have confused a link in the chain of events with proximate cause. After an accident it is human nature to observe that but for some small unrelated event the victim would not have been in harm's way. If only the taxi had picked him up on time; if only he hadn't delayed going out because of a phone call, or if only he had taken the valley road instead of Main Street, he'd be alive and well today. Societies don't assess blame for these "causes". Neither the taxi driver, nor the telephone caller, nor the victim is liable for the consequences of the accident. Only the closer, or proximate, cause is examined to allocate blame.
It is regrettable that you lost your wallet, but the two scenarios have little else in common. United, which holds itself out to the world as a transporter for hire of people and their belongings, voluntarily took custody of the OP's bags, and is therefore legally liable for them. No one, including the cashier or the market, agreed to look after your wallet. Certainly if it were proven that someone picked up your misplaced property you could recover it, but in the absence of a proven explanation of who took the wallet you have no remedy.
In the case of a common carrier, however, it is required to return your property to you undamaged, and if it fails, it is strictly liable, unless it can prove the loss occurred due to an event beyond its control, and without its fault. In this situation the carrier is guilty unless it can prove itself innocent, and with minor variations that has been the law in western civilizations for hundreds of years.
There will be an issue of the carrier's tariff here--the contract of carriage filed by United--but there will be no question in a court of law about when the OP arrived at the gate, or whether he should travel with objects worth more than $500, or whether anything he takes on vacation that is worth more than he is willing to lose should have have been in his bags. In law, none of these questions is pertinent.
You are certainly free to offer the OP good advice about how best to avoid problems when traveling, but the law does not excuse United for the loss of entrusted property belonging to a passenger who fails to follow your advice.
Done all those things and paid what ever price it was for my mistakes. I will not blame someone else for my mistakes. Being late is his fault, not removing expensive items from bags getting checked at the gate his fault. Should United airlines pay for his mistakes? NO and trying to get the airline to pay for his mistakes is acting no better then the thief who stole the phone. Is it sad things get stolen? Yes, but is it necessary to come here and whine about it and admit youre not willing to take responsibility for your actions.
If the OP had simply posted he forgot to remove an expensive iPhone from checked baggage. Resulting in it being stolen, to warn others, I would have never responded to this thread. Instead for some silly reason he and some other people here think its the airlines fault the airport has thieves.
The carrier is innocent as its policies have already been approved by airport security. If you can prove they did not follow their own rules and as a result the item was stolen then and only then will they be considered neglect. To think they are responsible to do absolutely everything worldly possible to prevent theft is ludicrous.
Watch your stuff people.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/09/20/dnt.kovr.ipad.stolen.cnn?iref=allsearch
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/09/20/dnt.kovr.ipad.stolen.cnn?iref=allsearch
I don't want to be an @ss, but the first rule when flying is to put important/expensive stuff in your carry-on. Money, passports, tickets, laptops, expensive phones... That's why carry-ons exist.
Second thing: it's just a cell phone. Go buy another one, I'm sure your credit card will refund your purchase anyways.
And United is the crappiest airline. I flew straight from ORD to HNL last year, 9 or 10 hours and you get a bag of peanuts and a can of Coke. They'd probably go bankrupt if they had to pay for your phone.
Second thing: it's just a cell phone. Go buy another one, I'm sure your credit card will refund your purchase anyways.
And United is the crappiest airline. I flew straight from ORD to HNL last year, 9 or 10 hours and you get a bag of peanuts and a can of Coke. They'd probably go bankrupt if they had to pay for your phone.
Let's say all facts were the same, except instead of an iPhone, it was a $400 suit that was missing. Do you still think United doesn't pay?
So is this the arguement that the thief can get off partial responsibility cause he was tempted?
Would you also argue that a woman deserved to be raped cause she wore the wrong thing? Cuase, yes, that is the same arguement (you did something that made it more likely, therefore you have some fault for some one doing something they should not have done regardless).
(and no, I did not say it was the same level of evil.. just that your reasoning goes along the same lines as the reasoning that claims a woman was responsible for being raped cause she wore a tempting dress).
If we were arguing about United not letting him on the plane, you'd have a point cause that would be his fault if he did not catch the plane. But, United did let him on the plane and this arguement is about a phone being stolen from him while his bags were under their control. Him being late is no excuse for the thief stealing his phone and United took responsibility for making sure nothing was taken when they checked in his bag and therefore put his bag out of his control and into theirs. Therefore, it is their responsibility. If they did not want that responsibility, then they should have let him keep his bag with him, then it would be his responsibility.
Yes, it is smarter to keep the expensive items with you, but let's not confuse it is smarter to do this with that makes it ok for other people to screw you cause you didn't do it. Just cause it is smarter does not relieve United of their responsibility. It just means that instead of having the iphone and not having to go through all this crap, he now has to deal with trying to argue with United and hoping he can get them to take responsibility. It does not relieve them of responsibility though.
I think those of you who think there is the feeling in this thread that the OP deserved to be robbed are reading into the respnses. To the above poster...no woman, no matter where she is or what she is wearing DESERVES to be raped. However, you go alone to the wrong place, at the wrong time you will increase your chances of being raped.
Baggage gets rifled through, whether you like it or not. If you have ANYTHING of value, you hand carry it with you. Theft of this type is a crime of opportunity. A valuable item will prove irresitable to a thief. The OP did not deserve to be robbed. He is not to be blmaed for the robbery. However, in the haste of gate checking a carry-on bag, he didn't think to take a valuable item with him. Had the iPhone been on his person, it wouln't have been stolen from his luggage (of course he could have been mugged for it).
Baggage gets rifled through, whether you like it or not. If you have ANYTHING of value, you hand carry it with you. Theft of this type is a crime of opportunity. A valuable item will prove irresitable to a thief. The OP did not deserve to be robbed. He is not to be blmaed for the robbery. However, in the haste of gate checking a carry-on bag, he didn't think to take a valuable item with him. Had the iPhone been on his person, it wouln't have been stolen from his luggage (of course he could have been mugged for it).
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Right. It's a easy win. They will not pay law fees to fight it. It would cost them thousands. You have a great case.
Cartaphilus said:
Right. It's a easy win. They will not pay law fees to fight it. It would cost them thousands. You have a great case.