This is an underhanded tactic to make it more difficult for the victim to sue the airline. Accepting compensation complicates a lawsuit, if you are suing for (larger amounts of) compensation.
People tend to ignore just how rare, in percentage, and how often, in abolute numbers, lost luggage is.
I would say the opposite: The failure of a customer facing business to compensate their client adequately when they've clearly screwed up opens them to larger losses via lawsuit.
They've "bought" the damages from you and may now take action against the airport worker as a victim.
The amount is not adequate and is not the settlement a victim represented by attorneys would negotiate. A victim without legal counsel would not realize this.
So the customer-facing business can very often accept a deal when it's still cheap by not growing extra transaction costs aroung you. Come to think you, lawsuit decision is basically a deal you can't refuse.
Edit: It was not the airline who stole anything, it was, allegedly, an airport employee.
Seriously, every time I ask that question that's the answer I get, because the guidelines say that "HN isn't just tech or business, it's anything that's interesting". So I guess someone found a case of theft interest.
https://news.ycombinator.com/best takes it even further in the "slow" direction.