2010 was a very bad year for cancellations. An unprecedented 300,000 flights were axed worldwide because of an assortment of nasties – including weather and a particularly boisterous Icelandic volcano. Despite that SITA, which specializes in commercial aviation communications and IT solutions, says, “the air transport industry has maintained the overall downward trend in baggage mishandling.”
SITA cites its Seventh Annual Baggage Report, a report that indicates while the number of flyers rose by 10.41 percent in 2010, the number of delayed bags rose by 4.4 percent. Some context: bad weather in February and December, and that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano in May (the one which spawned the ash cloud that strangled transatlantic travel) produced the first up-tick in mishandled baggage since 2007. That’s when the mishandled baggage rate worldwide was 18.86 pieces of luggage per 1,000 passengers.
So how do the United States fare? According to the Department of Transportation, U.S. airlines averaged 4.20 mishandled baggage reports per 1,000 passengers in January 2011. That compares to 4.56 reports per thousand for the same period in 2010.
What’s at work here? SITA says the International Air Transport Association’s Baggage Improvement Program is part of the reason, specifically “improved technology and greater vigilance on the part of airports and airlines.”
Who’s best at getting your bag from A to B among U.S. airlines? DOT says in January 2011 it was discount airline AirTran. It mishandled a reported 1.87 bags per 1,000 passengers. Frontier Airlines was second best, with 2.39, and discount airline JetBlue third best with 2.52.
The three worst airlines according to DOT were all commuter/regional carriers. ExpressJet Airlines mishandled a reported 6.58 pieces of luggage per 1,000 passengers. Atlantic Southeast’s number was 8.22. At the bottom of the rankings was American Eagle, with 9.19 reported mishandled bags per 1,000 flyers.
Story by Jerry Chandler
