"Then you know more than me," replies the flight attendant from the Dutch company KLM, when the passenger puts his smartphone in front of her and shows on the screen that his luggage is not on this plane, but in area E of the airport.
There is an Airtag from Apple in the backpack.
It's a silver-and-white button that sends Bluetooth signals to nearby iPhones, using which it constantly relays its location to the owner.
The knowledge advantage over the KLM crew is of little use.
The plane takes off from Amsterdam without the trackable baggage.
Arriving in Frankfurt, you then walk past the luggage belts to the service counter, whose only employee leaves the traveler alone with the information that you can only report the loss online and that the luggage is usually sent on the following day with the first machine.
But the next morning, the Airtag is still resting in the same spot at Schiphol.
KLM's customer service isn't moving either.
Instead, the thumb lands more and more frequently on the Where is it? app to check the location of the airtag.
Things get moving in the afternoon.
The backpack moves from area E to D, and finally it sends signals from the runway.
In these minutes flight KL1769 takes off.
The backpack must be on board.
On the way to the airport to pick up the missing luggage itself, KLM gets in touch for the first time after reporting the loss and belatedly confirms what the airtag had already sent.
So the flight attendant had been right all along.