Brad Tilden speaking on-field with plane. Photo: AP Images for Alaska Airlines
Turns out that we peasants in cattle class aren’t the only victims of mis-handled baggage. Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden got a taste of it last week on his way to speak at an industry summit in Washington.
Tilden mentioned the incident during his speech, saying “the media is here and I’m hoping that you won’t write this down and print it.” We assume he wasn’t serious about that! His bag was delivered the next day.
Alaska Airlines record on baggage complaints is just about average; it ranks #6 of the 13 carriers whose data is reported to the government. Alaska also has a program that offers travelers $25 or 2500 loyalty miles if their baggage doesn’t make it to the carousel within 20 minutes of arrival at the gate; there was no word on whether Tilden collected on that.