Why airlines lose luggage and how to fix the problem

A record 42 million bags were mishandled in 2007, and experts expect the situation to get even worse. Fortunately, technology offers some solutions – but the cost of introducing them remains a challenge

The sight of lost luggage piling up during the great London Heathrow Terminal 5 opening disaster last month was a familiar story for many business travelers. It was another reminder that when passengers check in a bag for a flight, it does not necessarily appear on the carousel at their destination.

An estimated 28,000 bags were mishandled in the first week of operations at T5. However, this is a problem which strikes passengers almost anywhere at any time. According to WorldTracer, an automated system for tracing luggage used by 400 airlines and ground-handling companies, 42 million bags were mishandled in 2007. That is around two per cent of the 2.25 billion items which were checked in globally.

The good news is that the majority of mishandled bags are reunited with their owners within 48 hours, but one in 2,000 disappears without trace. It is small wonder that a recent passenger survey for air transport technology company SITA found mishandled baggage is travelers’ second greatest source of annoyance (after delays) and that baggage collection is the step in the air travel process which most people would like to change.

What is more, the situation is getting worse. In Europe, the number of bags mishandled by members of the Association of European Airlines rose from 13.7 per 1,000 in 2004 to 16.6 in 2007. That amounts to an extra 1.8 million items going missing each year. In the US, where the figures look different because they do not take into account passengers who connect at international gateways, the figure rose from 3.84 per 1,000 in 2002 to 7.03 in 2007.

According to SITA’s Baggage Report 2008, the growing percentage of mishandled bags is a result of rising passenger numbers flying from increasingly overcrowded airports. Other contributory factors include airlines introducing shorter turnaround times for their aircraft, cost-cutting measures and tighter security arrangements.

Furthermore, where solutions have been introduced, they have not always been consistent. For example, an airline might use one type of technology in the passenger terminal and a different one in the baggage ramp area. SITA concludes the situation will get worse before it gets better.

“Unfortunately, SITA might well be right,� says Rose Stratford, BCD Travel’s senior vice president, Industry Relations Americas & Global GDS. “That is bad news for passengers in two ways. First, the chance they will lose their luggage could increase. Second, each mishandled bag costs airlines an average US$90 to reunite with their owners, adding up to billions of dollars of extra costs and higher fares per year.

“The good news is that technology has some answers to these problems. We hope airports, airlines and other interested parties will work harder together to introduce them and make life easier for all concerned.�

The International Air Transport Association, whose membership comprises almost all the world’s mainstream scheduled airlines, has launched the IATA Baggage Improvement Program to tackle the baggage crisis. The program includes integrating technologies to coordinate the departure control systems of airlines with the baggage systems of airports. Among other important targets are better bar-coded luggage labels to improve automated read rates and better training for airport personnel.

Perhaps the greatest hope for a breakthrough, however, is replacing bar-coded labels with radio frequency identification tags. These speed up scanning rates considerably and also reduce errors. Among the benefits this brings are less mishandling and much quicker location of a bag if it needs to be offloaded because of a no-show passenger.

RFID tags have been around since 1991 but the technological standard only received IATA approval at the end of 2005. They appear to work well. Hong Kong International Airport has introduced them and improved its baggage read-rate from 85-90 percent to more than 95 percent.

The main obstacle is cost: the price for each RFID tag is US$0.20. Manufacturers say this could fall to as low as US$0.05 if more airports introduce them. This leads to a Catch-22 situation, as airports will only introduce the technology if the price drops. Nevertheless, a recent survey found that 50 percent of airports expect to be using RFID within five years.

In the meantime, IATA says travelers can also do more to help. It asks passengers to attach contact details to their bags (BCD Travel recommends only supplying a mobile telephone number for security reasons), distribute weight evenly within each bag and – a recommendation that will not be popular with many travelers – check in their luggage at the airport earlier.

WHAT CAUSES BAGS TO BE MISHANDLED?

• Mislaid during flight connection (49%)
• Failed to load (16%)
• Ticketing error/bag switch/security/other (14%)
• Arrival station mishandling (8%)
• Loading/offloading error (5%)
• Airport/customs/weather/space or weight restriction (5%)
• Tagging error (3%)

Tags: Australian Travel News

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Corporate Travel, Business Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.