While running the gauntlet of the daily grind, one can get caught up in everything that can go wrong for a consumer, which is why we downright love it when something goes right. And if we can help a tiny bit, that’s nice, too. Rachael writes that her friend lost his laptop on a recent flight, and she immediately thought of Consumerist.

Rachael’s pal was returning home from Fort Riley, Kansas on an American Airlines flight to spend Christmas with his family after getting out of the Army. She says his flight arrived late, and he left his laptop at his seat when he got off the plane. He wasn’t allowed back on to retrieve it, and instead was given an email address and phone number to follow up.

So close to the holidays, he kept reaching dead ends, and Rachael writes that he was sick over losing the laptop, which had his whole life on it. That’s where her consumer savvy kicked in.

He told me this story over New Year’s dinner at his parents house and I immediately thought of the Consumerist. I was able to find quite a few American Airlines executive email addresses and sent them an email with my friend’s name, flight, and seat information and a description of the laptop, along with a plea that someone with the power to help do so as phone calls were not being returned and emails to customer service told him that nothing could be done.

Within one day, I was directed to American Airlines staff at the connection airport he’d lost the computer. They confirmed that they had it and asked for my friend’s phone number and address so they could ship it back to him via FedEx. They shipped it Friday and sent me the tracking number and my elated friend was so giddy with happiness that he could barely speak when he called me just moments ago to say he’d received it back.

On behalf of my friend and his family, thank you American Airlines for the help and thank you Consumerist for the information needed!

Of course, you’re welcome Rachael — we’re just glad everything worked out. Another happy reminder that the Executive Email Carpet Bomb can be your best friend in a tight situation.

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