British Airways Tops List of Baggage-Mishandling Carriers

The Air Transport Users Council has published a report on mishandled baggage and the worst performing AEA airline in 2006 was British Airways.

The AEA publishes its report every quarter, and produces an annual figure at the end of each calendar year. The reports include not just baggage handling performance of its member airlines, but also their performance in other areas.

The 2006 figures show that the AEA airlines that tend to have the worst performance are the larger carriers. The three biggest carriers –Air France, Lufthansa and British Airways- have the worst records (excluding the much smaller Air Portugal).

One feature that these airlines have in common is that they operate networks of flights from large airports, where many of their passengers take connecting flights.

This appears to show that the risk of mishandled baggage is higher at major hub airports, and that passengers on connecting flights are exposed to the highest risk of all. Research by SITA, the leading air transport communications and IT solutions provider, appears to confirm this.

According to the SITA website, 61 percent of instances of mishandled baggage are for connecting passengers. There are understandable reasons why bags might be more likely to get mislaid on connecting flights. Each bag is handled more often.