

Why Do 26 Million Checked Bags Go Missing Every Year? - bdz
http://www.cntraveler.com/travel-tips/flying/2012/07/airlines-baggage-luggage-checked-fees-missing-bags

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stephengillie
_Mueller confirms that airlines see the TSA as a big part of the problem:
“After the TSA took over back in 2001, my pilferage claims quadrupled,” he
says. Before the TSA came into the game, passengers’ bags could be opened by
another party only if a law-enforcement officer was present. His counterparts
at other carriers have reported similar findings, he says, and in a 2002
meeting in Washington, D.C., they demanded that the TSA crack down on rogue
employees. It is not clear what the agency has done since that time to solve
the problem, but it has agreed to investigate and settle any claims that
arise._

~~~
Shivetya
I guess we could not criminalize until you federalize.

Play on "You can't professionalize unless you federalize," agreed Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

~~~
jbooth
Let's leave the 1-dimensional partisan politics out of this please, there are
plenty of real-world reasons why the TSA sucks. The air traffic controllers
are federalized and they do a great job.

------
droithomme
Q: Why Do 26 Million Checked Bags Go Missing Every Year?

My answer: Because they contain valuable things.

When I used to travel with checked baggage, it almost always got stolen or
lost. Bad luck? No. I would pack expensive cameras. I now only put cheap
clothing and nothing metal in checked baggage. Everything valuable comes with
me by hand, and when that isn't possible is shipped using a more secure
carrier like FedEx. Since not packing valuables, I've never had a single bag
lost.

The fact is that baggage handlers at airports are criminals who make money
stealing things. There are exceptions, I am sure a few are honest. Not many
though.

~~~
ZenzerNet
Sorry, but you're wrong.

26 million bags were not lost - most were delayed in connection. Which means
you ran to your next flight and made it just in time, but your bag travels
slower than you do. In any case, you got it back a few hours or a day later,
all contents intact (or did you cheat the insurance? haa? :)

Few (although some) baggage handlers have the time to ruffle through your bag
ni the short time they strive to load, unload, and transfer hundreds of bags
from one flight to the next twenty.

The fact is that most baggage handlers are honest, while a few are not. Like
in any business.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

26 million bags were not lost - most were delayed in connection. Which means
you ran to your next flight and made it just in time, but your bag travels
slower than you do. In any case, you got it back a few hours or a day later,
all contents intact (or did you cheat the insurance? haa? :)

Few (although some) baggage handlers have the time to ruffle through your bag
ni the short time they strive to load, unload, and transfer hundreds of bags
from one flight to the next twenty.

The fact is that most baggage handlers are honest, while a few are not. Like
in any business.

Edit: Thanks for the downvotes. Lovely. For refuting the OPs ridiculous claim
that:

"The fact is that baggage handlers at airports are criminals who make money
stealing things. There are exceptions, I am sure a few are honest. Not many
though."

I worked in baggage handling for 10 years. I never saw anyone steal anything
from any bags. Nobody opened any bags without witnesses (supervisors). I saw
delayed bags due to - in order by reason - 1.) misconnection due to delayed
flights, 2.) baggage airport system failures 3.) Weather (indirectly causing
point 1, 2 and 4) 4.) Human error (rare).

~~~
sbmassey
I have found that if you have anything valuable-ish in external pockets to
your luggage, it will usually disappear. e.g. change in a bag; CD's & DVD's
etc.

I'm sure the baggage handlers that do that don't make it obvious to their co-
workers.

------
tzs
From the numbers given for US carriers, it looks like US carriers lose about
0.5% of baggage.

That's equal or higher to FedEx's loss rate, based on numbers I've seen
inferred from their insurance rates and the assumption that the insurance
rates are set to at least cover their costs.

Given that checked bags cost money now, why not send your bags by FedEx to
your hotel? You'll likely reduce your risk of losing them, and you won't have
to deal with carrying them to and from the airport.

~~~
eurleif
>Given that checked bags cost money now

Not as much as FedEx. Checking a 50-pound bag with United from SFO to AUS
costs $25. Shipping a 50-pound package via FedEx costs twice as much, and
that's assuming you can afford to be without the things in your bag for up to
4 business days. If you can't, overnight shipping is $288.

~~~
personlurking
I often wish I could travel without a second suitcase. I recently paid a
popular Brazilian airline R$230 (US$115) for a half-full second suitcase
weighing 15kg. That price was also the price of the flight I was taking, btw.

~~~
bmelton
If you're willing to do laundry in your travels (lots of hotels offer
drycleaning as a paid service also) then I see no reason you shouldn't be able
to.

I often travel for weeks at a time with no more than a Skyway 'carry-on' model
bag and my laptop bag, both of which are carryable onto all US airlines at
least. If I were somehow restricted to one bag, I could stow my laptop in my
carryon if necessary, but I'd worry more about it getting banged up.

~~~
personlurking
oops, forgot to mention important detail. I move a lot, so everything (mostly
clothes) fits into two suitcases.

------
creativename
_The pilot, who’s been apprised of these developments, must now make the
crucial call of whether to wait for the errant valises and risk a late
departure_

I'm actually surprised that it comes down to the pilot's call - you'd think
that their job is to just worry about flying the plane, not whether baggage
has made it or not.

~~~
autophil
And the fact pilots (in the U.S. anyway) make only slightly more money than a
McDonalds employee.

~~~
stevencorona
Wow- didn't think this was true, but googling found this:

"On the low end, first-year pilots at US Airways would, theoretically, earn a
minimum $21,600 a year. For that, they would work 72 hours a month at the
controls of a plane (lots more hours are involved in flight preparations,
overnights and sitting around waiting)."

~~~
troebr
I had to deal with US Airways for the first time last week (not from the US).
It was at Laguardia, all the other airplane companies had flatscreens and
whatnot, US Airways seemed to have been stuck in the 80's with letter boards.
They were very courteous though. But damn they looked cheap.

~~~
dguaraglia
This is true of most American companies. A while ago I was travelling a lot to
Europe (England in particular) from Brazil. On every single flight you'd get
personal entertainment systems installed on fairly new planes and great
onboard service.

Now I'm living in the US. Every time I travel (either inside the US or to
South America) I feel like American companies are not even trying.

~~~
jrockway
They are trying and succeeding. The only amenity that Americans care about are
the absolute lowest prices. (Does your fare comparison site let you search by
the availability of entertainment devices? Nope. Because nobody actually
cares.)

Considering you can regularly fly NYC-SFO round-trip for about $250, a
distance of 5000 miles, I think they're doing a pretty good job.

If you want free food and nicer seats, fly first class.

~~~
ken
> Does your fare comparison site let you search by the availability of
> entertainment devices? Nope. Because nobody actually cares.

I would search by that, if it was an option. But in practice most (airline,
aircraft) pairs all have the same entertainment options, so you can figure it
out yourself with a little googling.

~~~
jrockway
How much extra would you pay per flight? That's the bottom line.

------
mindslight
I think people can understand that mishaps occur, and can forgive their
property going missing/damaged/delayed. What is unforgivable is how airlines
delay and refuse reimbursing the traveler for losses incurred instead of
simply accepting their responsibility and making the disruption as painless as
possible.

~~~
alexqgb
Jet Fucking Blue

I recently landed at SFO, near midnight, and found that their handlers had
completely sheered a wheel of my suitcase. The pull handle was also busted.
And this was a bag tough enough to survive 15 years of use without trouble.

Exhausted, I went home, thinking I could deal with it in the morning. JetBlue
told me that they weren't taking responsibility for anything reported more
than four hours after the fact "to reduce fraud", they said.

Here's the thing. They know how many bags they ruin. They also know that the
likelihood of a person buying an airline ticket in order to get a "free"
suitcase is vanishingly small. So they can tell that while it's possible I'm
hustling them, it's also very unlikely. Chances are good that they simply
destroyed my bag. But instead of paying for it, they added insult to injury by
stating "we have no idea whether or not you're a criminal" before telling me
the four hour rule was written in stone.

That's got nothing to do with avoiding fraud, and everything to do with
avoiding responsibility. I suspect I'd have gotten the same treatment (or
worse) elsewhere, but still, Jet Fucking Blue.

~~~
trapexit
Replace it with a Briggs and Riley bag. It won't be cheap, but they will
repair it for free, for life, even if the damage was the airline's fault.

~~~
alexqgb
Wow, that's fantastic. Many thanks.

------
stevencorona
It's amazing to me that they even make it at all. There are so many bags
coming in that have to be unloaded, scanned, sorted, transfered (sometimes
cross-airline), and reloaded in such a short period of time with so much
possibility of human error.

I make some pretty tight connections and my bags always seem to make it (knock
on wood).

~~~
jack-r-abbit
Well... I don't find it any more amazing than the fact that they can keep most
of their planes in the air. Why? Because that is the job they have agreed to
do for the money I have agreed to pay. Sadly, they fail at their job...
apparently 26 million times a year.

Sometimes I wonder if my luggage is even on the same flight as me. We have to
check in so early these days, it would not surprise me if they chucked my bag
onto any next flight that will get it to my final destination before I do.
Probably not... but maybe.

~~~
greyboy
26 million of what, though? I don't recall seeing that mentioned in the
article. Are we talking 5%, 10%, 35%? What is an acceptable failure rate? Us
programmers aren't perfect, either. Or course, it's not justification, but it
would sure help put things in perspective.

A family member of mine worked for an airline on the ground post 9/11 and,
barring a major issue at the departing airport, there weren't very many
problems. The worst circumstances were short layovers (which usually arrived
on the next flight and sent to their address) or reroutes to the wrong
destination (which this person took the fall for, obviously, as it was all in
their control).

~~~
jack-r-abbit
True the numbers are not spelled out exactly. It does say _the industry claims
that more than 99 percent of checked bags arrive with their owners, and most
late bags turn up within two days._ But when it happens to you, you don't
really care what tiny percentage you are. And two days is a long time when
you're in a foreign country washing your single pair of underwear in the hotel
sink each night.

~~~
greyboy
Oh, I 100% agree with you, having been in a similar situation. It only happens
once, then you learn to carry an extra set of clothes in your carry-on (when
travelling internationally).

My point is just that 1% is a pretty reasonable margin of error. If I worked
on a team with 1% or less of errors over a life of a project, I'd be ecstatic.
But, reality prevails. Email/Gmail, websites, cell networks, car accidents
with hours of waiting, etc. all happen. Usually, only a small number are
affected (or for a small duration).

------
alister
_"A good part of the baggage process is in a part of the airport that is
physically quite complex and, in many areas, dark." He adds: "Your bag may be
traveling for several miles" in this maze, and watching it at every step along
the way just isn’t feasible._

That's a ridiculous excuse. The police, FBI, or whatever law enforcement
agency could put hidden cameras and microphones in various luggage--packed
with expensive things that are worth stealing--as part of a sting operation.
If there's a serious problem (keeping in mind that the _average_ loss is
0.5%), then they'd be able to nab the crooked TSA agents or baggage handlers
after just a couple dozen runs.

The reason this is not done is because this is _boring_ to police. It is not a
glamorous or interesting kind of crime to solve, and nor does it make money
like speeding tickets or parking tickets.

~~~
PotatoEngineer
Part of the trouble is that the victims often aren't local. Police
departments, humanly enough, care more about solving local crimes that hurt
local people, rather than crimes that hurt people "somewhere else." I agree
that the FBI and other such agencies would be interested, but it's still a
non-violent crime, and their resources might be better spent elsewhere.

------
tolos
Benefits of losing baggage: <http://unclaimedbaggage.com/p/store/about_store>

I live just close enough to make infrequent trips. I'm sure if I had to fly
more I'd feel differently about the matter.

~~~
MattSayar
I like how the article don't mention the final destination for all the
unclaimed bags. I got a great pair of sunglasses from this place once. Then I
lost them.

------
MarlonPro
Just so we can keep watching "Baggage Battles"?

