Was on UA 108 IAD-MUC yesterday (2/9)... Sat a while at the gate after boarding. Eventually, captain came on and said a pax had lost their ipad "into the cargo hold" and that the captain had done the same previously, accidents happen, etc. Estimate for maintenance was "at least an hour, possibly more."

Fortunately, about 15 minutes later they said the mechanics found it "with the first panel they removed." We left 30 minutes late and arrived 16 minutes late, so no big deal given how easy connections are at MUC ("we have at least 108 connecting passengers on board," the purser said during prep for landing).

I'm not quite sure what actually happened, other than that the Li ion battery on the ipad necessitated retrieving it. A 764 has some way a pax can drop something into cargo?