Those brilliant ideas you have when you’re drunk never seem quite so great in the sober light of morning. You probably didn’t need to send that passive-aggressive email to your boss about vacation days at 2 AM, or buy that Jeff Goldblum shower curtain online, or get matching stick-and-poke tombstone tattoos with your ex-college roommate. So when an airline worker in Kansas City who’d been drinking before work decided to sneak a quick nap in an airplane’s cargo hold last weekend, he likely didn’t feel as sold on the scheme once he sobered up—and realized he’d ridden the plane all the way to Chicago.
According to USA Today, the baggage handler for Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of American, told cops he was drunk early Saturday morning when he decided to crawl in among the luggage inside a 737 and catch a few quick Zs.
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Apparently, no one on the ground at Kansas City International Airport noticed that the unnamed 23-year-old was conked out, so they just closed up the cargo hold with the man still sawing logs inside.
“The flight subsequently took off with the team member in the cargo hold, which was heated and pressurized,” American told ABC Chicago in a statement.
The crew at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport found him a few hours later, likely nursing a budding headache and a very acute shameover.
“He did not request any medical attention upon arrival in Chicago, and we are grateful that he did not sustain any injuries,” the airline’s statement reads. “The American team is very concerned about this serious situation, and we are reviewing what transpired with our Piedmont and Kansas City colleagues.”
American Airlines suspended the guy from his job while they investigate how the hell this could’ve happened in the first place. They reportedly sent him back home to Kansas City on another flight, though it’s unclear if they made him curl back up in the cargo hold again as punishment.
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