Lost luggage costs airlines $3.8bn - Your experiences?!

[Kurt A]

Lost luggage rises 25 per cent in 12 months

More people than ever are taking to the air – and more than ever are having their luggage lost by airlines, a new report has found. Geneva-based aviation IT specialist SITA revealed that 42 million bags were lost by airlines in 2007, 25 per cent more than the previous 12 months.

SITA said the problems affected two per cent of checked luggage in 2007, with each piece of mishandled baggage costing carriers $90 – a total of $3.8 billion. “Once again the past year has seen an increase in the amount of baggage mishandled worldwide,” SITA chief executive Francesco Volante said, adding that the industry could ill afford such a huge outlay.

He blamed airport congestion due to growing passenger numbers, tighter turnaround times and increased security for the increase. The report said that “most” bags were reunited with their owners within 48 hours.

Mishandling of luggage during transfers at airports was responsible for 49 per cent of loses, down from 61 per cent in 2005. Failure to load bags accounted for 16 per cent of losses, while ticketing errors accounted for 14 per cent. The statistics came from SITA’s automated tracing system which is used by 400 airlines and ground handlers.

-tw

I was unfortunate to be one of those statistics in the 16% category in December 2007. I flew CX from SYD to HKG on 22Dec, spent two days in Hongkers before heading to Europe on LX; all without my checked bag which included my skis.

Considering it was right over Christmas, I guess I was a super lucky 'owner', having my bag found still sitting at Sydney Airport, though then couriered by CX to my German address within 5 days from my original departure...

Unfortunately for them, CX had to make arrangements for my bags' onward journey to Dusseldorf, then a private courier out into the countryside where I was residing. There's some additional expenses!! Guess it pays to pursue the Airline concerned as much as possible.

True or not, and of speculation, though of note, and very interesting/or staggering some would say; was the alarming figure a CX airport manager quoted to me, which referred to amount of unclaimed/lost baggage that currently resides at Sydney Airport, from various carriers. That number being in the high hundreds. How many of those bags are yours?

Scary to note that my bag could have been one of those 'lost forever bags', even after I hand delivered my lengthy ski bag to the oversize baggage carousel for personal scanning and specialised delivery to my aircraft... beats me why it sat there for 4-5 days.

Would love to hear your experiences, as opposed to rants