Which US airline loses the most checked bags?
Jul 18, 2012, 8:19 am
#1
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Which US airline loses the most checked bags?
NBC News Overhead Bin: Which US airline loses the most checked bags?
Thankfully, I've had pretty good luck with baggage, with a few delays here and there, but always receiving my stuff. I think the worst of it was in 2007 (GM at the time) when I was booked MCI-DTW-AMS-KWI on NW/KL and, due to weather, was re-rerouted MCI-DTW-JFK-KWI (NW and Kuwait Airways) and then MCI-DTW-FRA-KWI (NW and LH). Needless to say, my baggage, including military weapons, gear, and uniforms, was MIA for several days...definitely worried for a bit since I was on my way to Afghanistan!
Conde Nast Traveller article LINK
Thankfully, I've had pretty good luck with baggage, with a few delays here and there, but always receiving my stuff. I think the worst of it was in 2007 (GM at the time) when I was booked MCI-DTW-AMS-KWI on NW/KL and, due to weather, was re-rerouted MCI-DTW-JFK-KWI (NW and Kuwait Airways) and then MCI-DTW-FRA-KWI (NW and LH). Needless to say, my baggage, including military weapons, gear, and uniforms, was MIA for several days...definitely worried for a bit since I was on my way to Afghanistan!
Since January, the clear leader in that department has been United. It holds the worst record of all the major airlines: It mishandled between three and four bags per 1,000 passengers in April (the most recent month we have stats for) versus 0.86 bags per 1,000 for the top airline, Virgin America. That translates into nearly 20,000 bags going astray that month — far worse than last year, when United passengers filed only about 10,000 mishandled baggage reports (though take into account that United and Continental were reporting separately until January).
Since January, United has ranked No. 11 among the 15 airlines required to report their baggage handling records to the DOT; it's trailed only by commuter lines such as American Eagle, which perennially lag the larger carriers due to their high volume of connecting bags.
Since January, United has ranked No. 11 among the 15 airlines required to report their baggage handling records to the DOT; it's trailed only by commuter lines such as American Eagle, which perennially lag the larger carriers due to their high volume of connecting bags.
Jul 19, 2012, 8:52 am
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The headline is misleading.
United does not lose the most, Southwest has the most complaints (but it flies more passengers so it's ratio is a bit lower).
United does not have the most complaints per thousand passengers of all the US airlines, it's 11th out of 15 (for April 2012)
The number they use to determine the number of bags is complaints per thousand passengers, so you really can't say how many bags, a complaint could be for lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered baggage.
It's really horrible reporting for them to just take the number of complaints without reading each one to see what it applies to and say each one represents one lost bag, so they lost that many bags.
United does not lose the most, Southwest has the most complaints (but it flies more passengers so it's ratio is a bit lower).
United does not have the most complaints per thousand passengers of all the US airlines, it's 11th out of 15 (for April 2012)
The number they use to determine the number of bags is complaints per thousand passengers, so you really can't say how many bags, a complaint could be for lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered baggage.
It's really horrible reporting for them to just take the number of complaints without reading each one to see what it applies to and say each one represents one lost bag, so they lost that many bags.