United Airlines makes magician's bag disappear; Apple's AirTag pulls that rabbit out of a hat

Danny Orleans is a corporate magician. No, he doesn't make the value of corporations disappear. We leave that sort of thing to executives who don't know what they are doing and watch as the value of the company they are running drops in half. That might bring to mind a certain wealthy individual and a specific social media platform, but that's a story for another day.

A corporate magician, such as Danny Orleans, is indeed a magician, but one who performs at corporate trade events. According to Insider, the magician boarded a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Newark on Tuesday as he was scheduled to appear at a trade show in New York. But it was UAL that performed a disappearing act when the plane landed as a bag that Orleans checked at the airport disappeared. And in that bag was $1,500 worth of sound equipment that he needed for the show.

Luckily, the magician had placed an Apple AirTag item tracker in his bag. He checked his iPhone to see where his bag was located and said, "I checked and I could still see that it was still out on the runway. It was not in the terminal. I waited and it didn't move. I waited and it didn't move. I waited about 30 minutes, and then it moved — but it moved to another place on the runway."

So Danny waited in a long line as it seemed that several passengers on his flight had issues getting their bags. And when he got to speak to the United rep handling baggage, she told Orleans that his bag never made it to Newark and had never been checked in. Despite attempting to show the rep that his AirTag indicated that the bag was right on the Newark runway, the United employee was having none of it and told Orleans that the bag would be sent to where he was staying within five days. But Orleans needed the bag for his show the next day and he was going to be in town for only three days.

After I waited in that line I said, 'I'm going to take matters into my own hands,'" the magician said. His iPhone showed that the bag was close to the terminal which made Orleans think that it might be inside the airport. Further research indicated it was near Gate 90 even though his flight had landed near Gate 113. The only way for him to get from Gate 113 to Gate 90 required him to purchase a new airline ticket.

So the magician purchased a refundable ticket to Boston (making some of his money disappear) just to be able to get to Gate 90. He went through security, strode up to Gate 90, looked out the window and there was his bag lying on the tarmac exactly where the Find My app said it would be. "It was just sitting on the tarmac, "Orleans said. "The most frustrating thing is somebody walked past the luggage while I was watching it, and he just walked right past it, like it was not his job to get it."

The magician was able to find a United employee that could help retrieve his bag. However, he was not allowed to give the bag directly to Orleans. Instead, he set it up to come out on the carousel where Danny was finally re (ahem) united with his bag four hours after his plane landed. And the next day the magician got to perform during the aforementioned trade show. Even more amazing, Orleans remains a fan of United Airlines and flies with them four to six times per month.

He also had kind words to say about Apple's AirTags noting that they have helped him retrieve his bag three or four times. Interestingly, even though Orleans got his bag on Tuesday, United didn't know that and told him on Wednesday that they were still looking for it and would let him know when it is found.

Eventually, the airline did learn how Orleans got his bag back and made a statement. "We do our best to deliver bags on time for everyone – we are pleased to have Mr. Orleans as a customer, are glad he got his bag, and refunded him the cost of the extra ticket."