Where’s my luggage? Airlines lost 30 million bags last year

IF you’ve ever been frustrated after an airline lost your luggage, you’re in the company of millions of others - about 30 million in fact.

An estimated 30 million bags were temporarily lost by airlines in 2005, and 200,000 of those bags were never reunited with their owners, according to an industry report.

The report by SITA Inc, a company that provides technology solutions for the air transport industry, also noted that “the problem of mishandled baggage is worsening on both sides of the Atlantic”.

The 30 million misdirected bags comprised only 1% of the three billion bags processed last year by airports, up from 0.7% in 2004, said SITA, which is promoting technology it says would reduce the problem.

Last year, mishandled luggage cost world airlines $2.5 billion, compared with $1.6bn in 2004, according to SITA. The jump partly reflects improvements in data collection, but also the increasing costs resulting from inadequate baggage management.

Greater airport congestion, tight connection times, increased transfers among airlines and stricter security are all contributing to more late or missing bags, said SITA, a Geneva-based company that is owned by the airlines, airports and other international air transport industry companies.

But the biggest problem is the growing number of passengers, whose additional bags cause delays and complicate handling, it said.

Mishandling during baggage transfer was the largest single cause last year of a bag failing to arrive with its owner at the intended destination. Other bags were temporarily lost because of airport personnel failing to properly load baggage, ticketing errors, problems with loading or unloading, and weight or size restrictions. Only 3% of all misdirection of baggage occurred due to tagging errors.