My brother (ES) flew into Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport from LaGuardia (NYC) Friday at 8:30 p.m.. I was to meet him at 9:00 p.m. However, as I waited, I got a call from my dad informing me that he had been robbed while he slept on the plane, prior to touchdown in Atlanta.

After waiting roughly an hour for him to emerge from the airport, I parked the car and procured a gate pass from customer service. My plan was to go see what the hold-up was at my brother’s gate (B-26). After all, this was an airport. I assumed that if anyone had developed a fast-response plan in response to a crime, it would be Hartsfield. Instead, over the next few hours, I saw a more grossly incompetent response to a crime than I ever imagined could exist in the United States.

When I arrived at the gate around 10:45 p.m., E, who just turned 22 and is still in college, was standing alone. Out of breath after ascending the escalator two steps at a time, I asked what was going on.

He told me that immediately upon informing the gate agent that he had been robbed of his iPhone and money during the flight, he had been directed to wait in an hour-long line at the adjacent “customer service” line, as there was ‘nothing she could do.” She also suggested that he go see “baggage services.” Lacking a phone, he suggested that they call the police. After all, this man had exited the plane at roughly the same time as him, and it should have been simple to look up his name, check whether he had a connecting flight or if Atlanta was his final destination, and intercept him at the baggage claim or on the connecting flight. My brother also gave them a full description of the individual, but they were adamant that he should go see customer service instead.

After waiting for an hour, he reached the end of the line, where the service employee directed him to talk to another employee, who was nearby. This Delta customer service employee also had no idea what to do, so she called her supervisor over the intercom, directing her to “please pick up your phone for an important message.” The customer service employee then asked E to wait in the middle of the concourse, where she promised the supervisor would be on her way. She then left, and went into the employee break room.

When she came out of the break room 20 minutes later, E informed her that the supervisor had not yet arrived, so she called the supervisor again. E waited another 10 minutes for a supervisor, and when he again inquired where the supervisor was, he was directed to Gate B21, which was across the hall from the Customer Service desk.

E related his story for the third time to the two Delta employees at B21. He again informed them that his phone and money had been stolen while he slept in the window seat (meaning that there could be only one suspect, the man sitting immediately next to him), to which they replied, “Delta can’t do anything about that, but you can talk to a police officer.” E, lacking a phone, or any knowledge of the Atlanta Airport, waited in the middle of the concourse as the employees left to locate a police officer.

E waited until he “realized they were not coming back.” He approached another Delta employee in the vicinity of B21, and asked him to locate the two employees who had gone “looking for the police.” The ticketing agent paged the two employees over the intercom, and told E he would go look for them. Instead, the employee walked over to B21, paused, and walked over to B19 where he began checking in passengers, ignoring my brother. As a sidenote, there were three other employees also at B19 already checking in passengers.

At this point, I arrived on the scene, and, hearing that nothing had yet been done after nearly two hours, approached B19. “What are you doing,” I asked, “Don’t you know that a crime has been committed here?”

By dumb luck, the self-identified head of security had been “passing by.” He was unaware of my brother’s situation, even though two hours had gone by. He cited “privacy concerns,” “incompetence,” and stated that it would be “impossible to find the perpetrator.” He claimed that there was “no policy” for dealing with thefts on the airplane, even though the amount stolen ($600 iPhone and $50 in cash) made it a felony (up to 15 years for a first time offense).

I asked him, “Why aren’t the police here? It’s been over two hours, had someone acted right away, you could have caught the man.” He declined to even access the database to determine the name and final destination of my brother’s seatmate, and claimed that even if he had been there as my brother exited the plane, he still would have refused to cooperate with the police unless he had received written permission from his superior.

At this point, 2 1/2 hours after E had informed airport authorities that he had been robbed, a “police officer” finally arrived. Unfortunately, we were later told that this was not a police officer at all, but merely a uniformed security officer. After E relayed his story for the fifth time, the security guard suggested that we call AT&T. I asked him if we could file a police report, and he jokingly suggested that we should “call the FBI.” He claimed that neither he nor Delta were responsible for events happening in the air, and when I again asked him who we could talk to, he told us to call AT&T or the FBI, and walked away while I was still talking. He had not taken a single note.

We then exited the terminal and went to the “baggage service” counter in the airport, where I had obtained my guest pass to be able to pass through security. It was after 11:00, more than three hours after my brother had first informed Delta and airport authorities that he had been robbed of his money and phone while on a Delta plane. No one in the airport had yet filled out a form or made any type of report of the incident.

E relayed his story for the sixth time to the customer service representative at the counter, who, not knowing what to do, then called her supervisor. We waited an additional 30 minutes for her supervisor to arrive, who was the “head of ticketing.” We were asked to wait outside.

When she came (a first), we informed her that we would like to file a complaint, and that we wanted to know what the proper procedure was for dealing with felony theft on an airplane. She was unable to tell us the proper procedure, other than to tell us that stolen items are not Delta’s fault. I re-explained that we did not fault Delta for the stolen item, we merely wanted them to cooperate with the police to bring the thief to justice and recover my brother’s property.

She grudgingly filled out a report, but refused to provide us with a copy of it, and refused to tell us why she would not give us a coShe grudgingly filled out a report, but refused to provide us with a copy of it, and refused to tell us why she would not give us a copy.

She then gave us Delta’s customer support number, an 800 number which we would not be able to call until the following Monday (three days later). I asked her if it would be possible to provide the police (who we had still not been able to talk to) with the man’s information who was sitting next to E on the plane, and who was the only possible perpetrator. She declined, without providing a reason.

E then asked for the Captain of the plane’s name, which she also wouldn’t provide(despite the fact that the Captain announces his name over the intercom at the beginning of each flight). We then asked if we could talk to her supervisor. She said that we could “come back on Monday and talk to him.” I then asked if she would at least call the real police, who we had been waiting to see for close to four hours.

She agreed to do that. “Yeah, it’s the boy with the wallet again,” she said over the phone. After waiting outside the baggage service counter for another 20 minutes, we saw a police officer at the other end of the baggage claim. She began to walk away from us, and we ran to catch up. Officer Whitman began to take down our story, as E told it for the seventh time, on a scrap piece of paper. She failed to even ask for a description of the suspect until I prompted her, reminding her that E had given a description to the ticket agent the at 8:00 p.m.

As midnight came and went, two other officers sauntered up, talking to each other. “I’ve been calling you on the radio,” one said to Officer Whitman. “Oh, oops,” she said as she turned on her walkie-talkie, apparently for the first time that night. The two then proceeded to talk on their cellphones, even thougha skycap had earlier run up, excitedly telling Whitman that a bag had been stolen. She made no mention of this crime to the two officers, who then slowly walked toward the atrium.

She then informed us that we could pick up a police report on Ponce de Leon avenue after five business days (although she told us it could be longer since they are currently in the process of moving into a new office, and everything is a mess), and apologized for Delta’s behavior. It was the only apology we ever received that night.

My brother has heard nothing further from Delta, the police, the airport authorities, or anyone regarding his stolen property. Somehow, I doubt that he ever will.

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but E was on his way home for his birthday – and the stolen iPhone was an early birthday present from our parents.

I have seen gross incompetence from Delta employees before – after all, I’ve lived in Atlanta for 20 years and have my bags lost dozens of times – but this approaches criminal negligence.

I wasn’t surprised that the ticket agents, customer service representatives, the security officers, and their supervisors are all incompetent. I’ve dealt with them hundreds of times before. What surprised me was that there is clearly no policy in place whatsoever for dealing with felony theft, and if there is, he has not been taught to any employees, as far as I can see.

What is apparent is that Delta is more concerned with denying that anything happening on their planes is their responsibility than taking care of customers. I will continue pressing my complaint on my brother’s behalf until it reaches Delta’s CEO, because I hope nothing like this ever has to happen to anyone ever again.