Ever flown somewhere and found your checked baggage didn’t make the flight with you? You (and your luggage) are not alone with almost one-third (31.7%) of Aussies reporting lost luggage while travelling.
Compare the Market surveyed more than 1,000 Australians and found more than half of respondents (55.4%) had their lost luggage returned within days of arrival at their destination, while just 3.1 per cent never received their suitcases.
A lucky 14.5 per cent had their checked baggage returned within hours of arrival, while 8.8 per cent of lost luggage took months to make it back to the owner.
Over the past year, global baggage handling shortages and busy airports have seen incidences of lost luggage soar.
According to SITA’s 2023 Baggage IT Insights, the number of mishandled bags almost doubled from 2021 to 2022 to 7.6 bags per 1,000 passengers.
The Baggage IT Insights report showed that delayed bags accounted for 80 per cent of all mishandled bags in 2022, while lost and stolen bags increased to seven per cent. Damaged and stolen bags decreased to 13 per cent of all cases.
The most mishandled bags are those bound for transfer flights, followed by unloaded and incorrectly loaded luggage, with peak travel periods exacerbating the situation.
More airlines have introduced live luggage tracking to allow passengers to track the progress of their baggage from check-in to inflight and arrival in-destination – avoiding any unwanted surprises at the carousel.
Forgetful flyers
On the flip side, almost half of Australians (47.8%) surveyed said they had lost items on holiday.
Chargers are hands-down the most common item left behind with 42.6 per cent of travellers forgetting to pack them, followed by clothing and shoes (40.9%).
A surprisingly high 6.3 per cent admitted losing ID on holiday, such as passports or drivers’ licences, while 12.6 per cent have left their wallet or purse behind.
