Alaska Airlines CEO says his airline lost his bag

“Brad often will often check his carry-on bag on busy flights to make room for customers to stow their bags in the overhead bins”, Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan told NBC.

Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden said his own airline misplaced his luggage as he traveled last week to an industry summit in Washington, D.C. The Los Angeles Times writes Tilden admitted the gaffe on stage, saying his bag was delivered to him the day after he arrived.

While travelers frequently complain about lost or delayed luggage, the truth is that airlines have made huge improvements in handling checked baggage.

Alaska Airlines has a good record when it comes to handling bags. Unlike other airlines, which guarantee nothing if a bag is misplaced or delayed, Alaska promises that if a passenger’s checked luggage isn’t at airport baggage claim within 20 minutes of the plane parking at the gate, the passenger is entitled to a $25 gift card or 2,500 frequent flier miles with the airline.

The airlines didn’t say if Tilden got the credit. The guarantee provides a $25 credit if the bags don’t arrive in time. That was better than the national average of 3.52 complaints per 1,000 passengers and ranked Alaska Air sixth out of the 13 carriers that report such data to the government.

Alaska Airlines recently launched a new campaign touting how well it handles your bags. With steadily increasing automation and computer-readable information readily available on the bag, combined with multiple synchronized check-points, more bags are reaching their intended destination than ever before. Quite a few airlines are now getting into the real-time baggage tracking game.