Airlines mishandled fewer bags last year despite an increase in the number of people flying, according to a report out on Tuesday.
Airlines mishandled bags at a rate of 8.83 per 1,000 passengers in 2012, down from 8.99 in 2011. That’s a 1.78% drop, according to the ninth annual baggage report by SITA, an information technology company that works with airlines.
Meanwhile, the number of passengers increased 4.5% to 2.95 billion. It was unclear, however, how many total number of bags passengers checked last year.
“The industry has made a concerted effort to improve baggage handling operations in recent years through significant investment and innovation,” says Francesco Violante, chief executive officer of the Geneva-based SITA.
A mishandled bag is defined as checked baggage that is delayed, damaged, pilfered, lost or stolen.
One significant area of improvement, SITA says, has been in baggage transfers. That is traditionally where many bags are lost.
In 2012, the number of bags mishandled during transfers between flights fell 9% from the previous year. Violante attributes that to airlines and airports investing in systems and procedures to handle bags more efficiently and quickly.
Baggage handling has improved significantly in the last six years. The rate of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers has fallen 53.2% in that time, saving the industry $2.1 billion since 2007, SITA says.
“While there is still work to be done because any mishandled bag is unwelcome, the six-year trend shows that our collaborative efforts to improve baggage handling are paying off to the benefit of both passengers and airlines,” Violante says.
Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst with R.W. Mann and Co., says that technology “certainly helps both in the accuracy of tagging and the ability to trace and locate bags.”
But he points out that airlines are flying fewer flights.
And fewer flights, he says, “results in reduced instance and extent/length of delays, which reduces the likelihood of bag transfer misconnects, resulting mishandling and likelihood of pilferage or loss.”
Alan Bender, professor of Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, says airline consolidations have improved baggage handling as well. Bags are no longer being transferred from, say, a Delta flight to a Northwest flight as the two airlines have merged operations.
“Interline transfers are notorious causes of mishandled bags,” he says.
Another factor working in airlines’ favor: People are checking in fewer bags to avoid baggage fees, he say. And if they do check bags, they are doing so earlier because they are arriving at airports earlier to deal with long security lines.
“Fewer checked bags is simply of a function of higher and higher checked bag fees that in some cases are approaching usurious levels,” Bender says. “How can you lose bags when there are a lot fewer bags to lose?”
In 2012, there were 26.04 million mishandled bags. Delayed bags made up 82.9% of all mishandled bags, down from 2011. Damaged or pilfered bags accounted for 12.9% of mishandled bags, and 4.2% were reported lost or stolen.
