Danny Orleans
- Magician Danny Orleans's bag was missing when he landed in Newark the day before a performance.
- He used his Apple AirTag to track down his bag and bought a plane ticket to get back into the terminal.
- Orleans looked out the window and was able to spot his bag just sitting on the tarmac.
Danny Orleans is usually the one making things appear and disappear — but when the well-known corporate magician got off of a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Newark on Tuesday, it was his own bag that had vanished.
Orleans was traveling to New York to perform at a trade show the following day. The bag he checked included about $1,500 worth of sound equipment that he needed in order to perform.
Orleans told Insider he got off the plane around 12:15 p.m., went to the United Lounge for a free lunch, and then headed to baggage claim. When he arrived, everyone on his flight was still waiting for their luggage to appear.
Thankfully he had a trick up his sleeve — an Apple AirTag in his missing bag.
"I checked and I could still see that it was still out on the runway. It was not in the terminal," Orleans said. "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."
Orleans, who says he flies anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 miles a year, got in line, like others on his flight, to report his bag was missing. When he finally got to the front, the United representative told him the bag was not even in Newark as it had not been checked in.
"I said, 'Yes it is, it's right here in my phone,'" he said. He explained that he could see where his bag was on the AirTag app, but the employee said they could not do anything with the information. Instead, they said they could send his luggage to where he was staying within five days, but he needed the bag for his show the following day and was only planning to be in town for three.
"After I waited in that line I said, 'I'm going to take matters into my own hands,'" he said.
The AirTag app was showing the bag close to the terminal, so Orleans thought maybe it had somehow gotten brought inside. He consulted the terminal map and thought it looked like his bag might be near gate 90, even though his flight had pulled in at gate 113.
"But when I saw that I was in baggage claim," he said. "For me to get inside the terminal, the only way for me to do that was to buy an airline ticket."
Orleans said he bought a fully refundable ticket to Boston that he had no intention of taking. He went back through security, walked all the way to gate 90, and looked out the window.
There was his bag, right where the AirTag said it would be, stranded and alone on the tarmac.
Danny Orleans
"It was just sitting on the tarmac," he 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."
He found a United employee who listened to his story and went out of their way to help. Orleans pointed out his bag on the tarmac and said the employee's "eyes got really big," adding "he hadn't seen that kind of thing before."
The employee then went out to the tarmac to recover the bag, all while Orleans watched through the window. The employee could not bring the bag directly to Orleans, but moved it into the proper channels so it would come out at baggage claim, where Orleans was finally able to pick it up — four hours after his flight had landed.
He made it to the trade show the following day and was able to perform.
"It all worked out. It's a real happily-ever-after story," Orleans said. "It was just an amazing journey, watching my luggage out on the tarmac."
Orleans said he's a very happy and loyal United customer, noting he flies with the airline four to six times a month. But he was surprised that his bag was just left outside like that without anyone picking it up.
He also praised the Apple AirTags, which he's been using in several of his bags for about a year and a half. He says they've already helped him track down his bags on three or four occasions.
United did not provide comment to Insider when reached. Newark Liberty International Airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But they emailed Orleans on Wednesday, to let him know they were still looking for his bag, and would contact him when they found it.