Today, I was on the phone when my left AirPod fell out. I was standing at my computer and after the call, I searched high and low around my desk with no luck. Resorting to Google, the solution was to play music very loudly while wearing my right AirPod. The missing AirPod could then be heard and turned out to be on my desk – must have been deflected by my arm. 
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In theory, you could also have used Find My.
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A few winters ago, I was touring London with a friend. While visiting the Tate Modern, he realized that his phone was not in his coat pocket. On my phone, we logged into his iCloud account and opened Find My. We were walking around, and the phone always seemed close but never with us. Finally, I got the bright idea to call his phone number. Sure enough, the ringing was somewhere on his body. The phone was in the pocket of the lighter jacket under his outer coat.
The clue to how this happened is that my friend has always lived in Southern California, usually near the Pacific Ocean, where the temperature never drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. So, he is not used to layering clothes. However, because we were always moving, the lag in FindMy kept us from realizing the phone had been with him the whole time.
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I did try Find My first to locate my Airpod but for some reason it was slow to respond. I tried it just now and it worked fine. .