Airline loses own CEO’s luggage

Even CEOs get their baggage misplaced: Alaska Airlines CEO Bradley Tilden admits his bag went awry.

Brad Tilden, who has been with the company since 1991, admitted that his own airline lost his bags during a conference last week in Washington, DC.

Alaska Airlines is one of the few airlines to offer such a guarantee, according to Time, but, despite the horror stories, the lost luggage rate has been on the decline.

So while travelers have less reason to complain about airlines losing their checked bags, when luggage is lost or delayed nowadays there’s more reason than ever to be angry-because unlike in the olden times, customers are usually paying extra for the privilege of checking a piece of luggage or two.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a visibly embarrassed Mr Tilden said on stage at the summit: “The media is here and I’m hoping that you don’t write this down and print it”.

Last February, Delta Air Lines began a similar bag delivery guarantee program that gives passengers 2,500 SkyMiles if a checked bag doesn’t arrive at the carousel in 20 minutes or less after any domestic flight and American Airlines recently introduced a free real-time tracking system for checked bags. The first time was 25 years ago.

Tilden did not say whether he got the $25 credit or the 2,500 miles.

The airline received 3.15 “mishandled baggage” complaints per 1,000 passengers for the first half of the year.