Lost AirPods – any chance to get them back?

TidBITS Talk
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So my dumb self left my AirPods in the EWR security bin on transfer after a very long overseas flight. Upon arrival in SFO Find My iPhone shows me that sure enough they’re no longer in EWR, but rather in some New Joisy backwater. I was about to curse some imagined sleazy TSA guy who didn’t turn them over to L&F… But then closer inspection revealed they were tagged at that location 15 min before we landed so I guess that tag was from when I stopped using them on board as we downlegged towards finals. My iPhone had picked up a GPS signal even though cellular was off. Is it plausible that it will log its position and then later, when it has a data connection again, inform iCloud that that was the last known position of the AirPods?

In any event, that’s their last “known” location according to iCloud. Any chance I can get them back? OK, fine. More realistically, are they at least bricked to anybody not in posession of my Apple ID? Is there anything else I can do to facilitate the former (apart from calling L&F at EWR obviously) and guarantee the latter?

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More realistically, are they at least bricked to anybody not in posession of my Apple ID?

I don’t think so. I was helping my mom with hers a few days ago and opened their case near my iPhone and my phone came up with a “connect?” button on the screen.

I didn’t connect them, so I don’t know if it would have asked for a password or something, but it sure seemed like I could pair them to my phone and that would have unlinked them from hers.

BTW, if you’re fine with the old version, Costco was clearing them out last week for $129. They only had a limited supply so they might already be sold out.

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Thanks! Bit of a bummer. I suppose if they could be bricked it might increase chances of people handing them back to L&F. Thanks for the Costco tip. Once I’m sure I won’t get them from TSA I’ll look into getting a new pair.