Kolman’s Korner: What happened to my suitcase?

My suitcase did not arrive on my return flight home. It was “found” and delivered to my house. There was no explanation of what happened.

Considering how many pieces of luggage the airlines handle every single day, it’s amazing that our luggage actually travels with us.

I did some investigating into lost luggage and was amazed at what I learned.

According to the most recent Baggage Report (2014) from SITA – the worldwide telecommunications provider for the airline industry, the total number of bags mishandled was 21.8 million. The rate of bag mishandling was 6.96 per thousand passengers.

Furthermore, the report found that damaged or pilfered bags account for 15.5 percent  of mishandled bags and 3.3 percent were declared lost or stolen.

Annual mishandled bags cost the industry a total of $2.09 billion.

According to SITA, transfer bags comprise the majority of delayed bags; “failures to load” accounted for 16 percent of the total delayed bags; and “ticketing errors/bag switches/security and other” issues accounted for 15 percent.

Despite the fee, carry-on luggage may be the way to fly, provided you can pack everything you need into a smaller bag.