Alaska Airlines misplaced its own CEO's luggage

Alaska Airlines’ CEO found out the hard way that even top executives aren’t immune to lost baggage when they fly, even on their own airline.

Chief Executive Bradley Tilden made the admission on stage at an airline summit in Washington, D.C., according to the Los Angeles Times.

“The media is here and I’m hoping that you don’t write this down and print it,” Tilden reportedly joked with the audience before announcing it’s not the first time either.

Tilden said he’d had his luggage lost before, albeit 25 years ago.

His luggage wasn’t lost for good, mind you, it arrived at his hotel the next day.

Alaska Airlines guarantees your bags will arrive within 20 minutes of reaching the gate or they’ll give you $25 or 2,500 miles towards your next flight.

Tilden didn’t tell the crowd which of these he chose, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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.

A 2014 report from the Société International de Télécommunications Aéronotiques (SITA) found the number of lost bags had actually been chopped in half over the past decade despite more passengers taking to the skies.