No more lost luggage

by CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, TOM BALLANTYNE  

June 1st 2017

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New industry data has revealed the percentage of passenger bags lost or delayed by airlines is dropping fast. A recent report by aviation IT and communications group, SITA, said that in 2016 the rate of mishandled bags was the lowest on record. Read More »

SITA said 5.73 bags per thousand passengers were mishandled last year, a 12.5% improvement over 2015, despite an increase in passengers carried to 3.77 billion for the reported 12 months.

Even better results will be achieved when the International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulation, IATA Resolution 753, takes effect in June 2018. From that date every bag must be tracked and recorded at four mandatory points: at check-in, at aircraft loading, at transfer between carriers and when the bag is delivered to a passenger.

Once the resolution is in place, airlines will be able to share the information with their passengers and code share partners about the journey of their luggage, just as air freight parcels are now tracked.

SITA president, Air Travel Solutions, Ilya Gutlin, said: “soon the days of not knowing where your bag is will be a thing of the past. We are on the brink of a new era in airline baggage management because the world’s airlines have committed to tracking baggage journeys”.

Tracking passenger baggage requires data capture and management and sharing of this information across airlines, airports and ground handlers,  Since 2007, the rate of mishandled baggage has fallen 70% because of investment in technologies and process improvements by the world’s airlines and airports, SITA said.

Critical points in the bag handling process are moving bags between airplanes or carriers, when bags have a higher risk of being mishandled, particularly if connections between flights are tight.

In 2016, 47% of bags were delayed when being transferred between flights or airlines. Mandatory tracking at this point in the process will provide real-time data that will avoid delays.

Mishandled baggage carries a significant cost for airlines. Despite a 12.25% drop in the bag mishandling rate, the global bill for recovering and reuniting passengers with their bags was  $2.1 billion last year.