Apple 4G Snafu: Forgetful Engineer Offered Trip By Lufthansa

Gary Powell, the Apple engineer who caused an uproar by reportedly leaving a prototype iPhone 4G in a bar by accident, is now being offered a free flight to Germany by Lufthansa to drink some beer.

Lufthansa, in an open letter published on the Gawker Website, is offering Powell, a free business-class flight to Munich, Germany.

When he gets there, he will be treated to the airline's new Bavarian Beer Garden Business Lounge, wrote Nicola C. Lange, Lufthansa's director of marketing and customer relations for the Americas, in the letter.

Powell reportedly lost a prototype of the Apple iPhone 4G in a Redwood City, Calif. bar last month.

The finder, after attempting to contact Apple, shopped it around to several media outlets. Photos and a video of the presumed iPhone 4G first appeared on the of Gizmodo, which confirmed it paid $5,000 for the device.

Should Powell accept Lufthansa's offer of a free trip, it would be quite a PR coup for the airline which invited him to respond via Twitter.

Like many other airlines, Lufthansa is taking a huge financial hit from the chaos caused in European airspace by the Iceland volcanic eruption which closed many airports there for days.

Responses to Gawker's publication of the Lufthansa letter in general made fun of Apple, with many warning Powell of the theoretical consequences of accepting the offer.

One responder warned Powell to not take the trip as it is probably a set-up to find an iPad in his bag, while another said that the Lufthansa offer made no mention of a flight back home.

Another, "lawyergay," wrote the offer is a trick by Jobs to get Powell in range for an attack with an Apple "iProd."

"You'll board your flight, only to find it completely empty. As you try to leave the aircraft, Steve Jobs, dressed in a Lufthansa pilot's uniform, will emerge from the flight deck and taser you with Apple's prototype iProd. You will gain consciousness 16 hours later in a minimalist white cube, and the only sound you will hear will be Hanson's 'Mmmbop' on infinite repeat."

"Ja, our friends (at) Siemens vould like to buy you a beer...," wrote another responder, "meechybee."

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