Aviation improves – less baggage lost

Not finding your baggage on the belt after a flight is very unpleasant, but the good news is that it happens less than before. A lot less. According to SITA data, the number of lost luggage incidents in aviation has been reduced by half since 2007.

The Wall Street Journal reports that airlines last year mishandled 21.8 million bags, or 6.96 per 1,000 passengers, as compared to 46.9 million bags, or 18.88 per 1,000 passengers in 2007. The drop is associated with the increased airline efforts to improve handling processes. According to SITA, an aviation communications and technology company that tracks baggage performance, airlines that are now charging baggage fees have come to realise that passengers have higher expectations and efforts to lose less bags were inevitable.

Airlines can make good money by losing fewer bags too: lost baggage was costing the airline industry $4 billion a year by 2007. Repatriating delayed or lost luggage to passengers cost an average of $100 per bag.

Further reading on wsj.com