The Art of the Apology
Why the two hardest words are often the most transformative
I think it’s inevitable in this day and age to experience some kind of travel snafu.
Flight delays. Cancelled flights. Missed connections. Mechanical issues. Weather. The long list of things outside our control that create frustration and headaches along the way.
But there is one snafu I think is worse than all of those.
The ones that are completely within our control. Yet still happen.
Last week when my husband and I were flying to Kiawah, I had been bumped up to first class while he sat in Economy. He’s usually the one who double checks everything when we leave a plane. Let’s just say four eyes are better than two.
This time, the snafu was mine.
I left my tech bag behind on the seat.
A small red designer bag I’ve had since a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Monaco with my daughter and girlfriends. A keepsake piece. The kind of item that can’t be replaced with a few keystrokes.
The moment I realized it was missing, I filed a claim with Delta and felt hopeful I could retrieve it on our return through Atlanta after the weekend in Kiawah.
My optimism came from the AirPods inside the zipped pouch. Using Find My, I could see they were still at the airport.
Despite receiving a notification from Delta saying they had not located the item, we used our short layover to hustle to the Lost and Found. As we approached the desk, I pinged the AirPods.
We could hear them.
The woman at the desk followed the sound and located them.
What she discovered was far more alarming than my forgetfulness.
The AirPods had been removed from their case and appeared to have been left directly on the tarmac. The case was empty. My Oura ring charger was gone. The red bag was nowhere to be found.
The contents had clearly been removed from the zipped pouch.
When I expressed concern that items had been taken, the Delta attendant sharply criticized me for suggesting theft could occur with their cleaning crew.
Later, a follow-up email from Delta read, almost verbatim:
“I’m sorry you left your AirPods behind.”
Not:
“We’re deeply sorry this happened while you were flying with our airline.”
Their acknowledgment came in the simple form of: you are welcome to file a police report. And yet the AirPods, left and right, are still sitting on the tarmac close to where the plane once sat. I don’t think they fell overboard on their own.
I fully own that I left the bag. I should have slowed down. Taken one more glance at the seat before stepping off the plane.
I own that.
But mistakes happen. We’re human.
And in those moments, you hope humanity shows up on the other side.
This time, it didn’t.
What unraveled me wasn’t the loss of the bag.
It was the realization that accountability and simple decency had disappeared right along with it.
Honestly, the whole experience has left me in a deflated mood since. I keep thinking, what is wrong with humanity? And then something occurred to me. Something I am not proud to share.
