Hayden says the detective told her that “the information had been given to United Cargo, and they were going to call this person into the office and question him.”

“For the next few days, I was watching my AirPods at this man’s house. They should have died, because I hadn’t charged them before my trip, but I kept getting a notification on that they had been ‘seen’ [by the app] – which meant someone had connected their iPhone to the AirPods.”A few days later, the detective called her again to say that the employee had been questioned. He’d denied having the AirPods, until being shown the tracking screenshots at his home – at which point he said that he’d been given them by one of the airplane cleaners. That person denied all knowledge of the situation.

The matter is now being handled by the San Francisco Airport Police Department, which plans to submit the case to the San Mateo District Attorney’s office, a spokesperson for San Mateo County confirmed to CNN.

After 12 days of chasing, Hayden finally got her AirPods back – although not in peak condition. “They look like they’ve been stomped on,” she says. “They were wrapped in a toilet paper-sized piece of bubble wrap, Why bother?”

When she flagged United about their condition, she says, she was told to leave feedback through the contact form on its website. A week later, and after CNN first contacted the airline about her case, Hayden was told she would receive $271.91 in “expenses” (to buy a new pair) plus 5,000 miles as an apology.

‘I paid for you to make sure no one stole my stuff’Hayden – who always travels with an AirTag in her luggage, too – says she’d love to be the last case of alleged theft from a plane.

“I’m tenacious – but what about the people who don’t have the time, or who give up? How many people will be told, ‘You left them behind, what do you expect?’” she asks.She calls the detective who helped her “amazing.”

In the meantime, with her AirPods recovered, she can communicate with her husband again.

“Maybe they look like AirPods to normal people, but it’s my lifeline to my husband and means something different to me,” she says.

“But I shouldn’t have to explain for someone to care.”