Airlines Losing Almost 42 Million Pieces of Luggage a Year

According to some new figures that just recently came out, airlines are responsible for mishandling almost 42 million items of passenger luggage every year. The consumer watch dog Which? says that an ever increasing number of bags are being damaged, lost, or delayed all the time.

Many experts fear that air passenger numbers are expected to reach almost 2.75 billion by 2011. Thus, the amount of mishandled bags could reach as high as 50 million in a single year.

The report goes on to show that most mishandled bags were lost when they were being transferred from one plane to another. The figures also show that an increasing number of bags where left behind because the planes took off before the luggage was loaded. This happens when airport codes and flight numbers are misread on the luggage tags.

People who lost their bags are said to have received the lowest amount of compensation from no frills airlines like Jet2 and Ryanair. Most of the time, Ryanair only pays out £15 regardless of how long the bag has been delayed. Other no frill airlines, like Jet2, refuse to pay reimbursement to people whose claims are under £30.

Lrna Cowan, the editor of Which?, said that when people hand their bags over to an airport, they expect it to get to where they are going. However, people are finding out that, very often, the bags never make it to the same place. Airlines are responsible for all checked in baggage, but their liability is very limited. All passengers are advised to get a special declaration for valuables from the airline. Either that or carry the items on the plane by hand.