Photo:
Mario
Tama
(Getty
Images)
It
would
be
easy
to
presume
that
airlines
would
spare
no
expense
to
ensure
that
passengers’
luggage
meets
them
at
their
destination,
considering
how
lucrative
the
attached
fees
are.
Airlines
globally
made
more
than
$29
billion
in
checked
bag
fees
in
2022.
However,
frequent
flyers
are
well
aware
that
bags
can
be
lost
or
damaged
while
in
a
carrier’s
custody.
The
numbers
are
quite
staggering.
Every
U.S.
airline
with
more
than
0.5
percent
of
total
domestic
revenue
is
requested
to
report
its
statistics
monthly
to
the
Department
of
Transportation.
From
that
data,
2,801,968
bags
were
reported
mishandled
in
2023.
Mishandled
is
a
catch-all
synonym
for
lost,
damaged,
delayed,
and/or
pilfered.
The
USDOT
uses
the
number
of
bags
mishandled
per
100
bags
enplaned
as
the
measure
to
compare
airlines
fairly.
I’ll
use
the
initialism
‘BMPH’
to
avoid
constantly
using
‘bags
mishandled
per
hundred.’
For
example,
0.58
BMPH
is
the
national
average
with
485,919,932
bags
being
enplaned
in
2023.
Here’s
how
the
figures
break
down
on
an
airline-by-airline
basis.
This
story
originally
appeared
on
Jalopnik.
Photo:
Robert
Smith/MI
News/NurPhoto
(Getty
Images)
Allegiant
Air
proved
to
be
the
most
competent
airline
in
getting
bags
to
their
destination
last
year.
The
Nevada-based
carrier
mishandled
only
10,590
bags
in
2023.
However,
the
lower
rate
might
be
down
to
the
airlines’
smaller
size.
Photo:
Bruce
Bennett
(Getty
Images)
Southwest
Airlines
spent
most
of
2023
answering
for
its
holiday
season
meltdown
in
December
2022.
The
low-cost
carrier
ranked
ninth
after
ranking
fifth
worst
in
2022.
Did
Southwest
improve
on
its
own,
or
did
the
record
$140
million
fine
and
Congressional
inquiry
serve
as
encouragement?
Photo:
Mario
Tama
(Getty
Images)
Photo:
Kevin
Carter
(Getty
Images)
Hawaiian
Airlines
slipped
into
seventh
place
in
2023
after
finishing
in
ninth
place
the
previous
year.
This
will
likely
be
the
final
year
that
Hawaiian
appears
on
this
list,
as
Alaska
Air
Group
purchased
the
carrier
for
$1.9
billion
in
December
2023.
Photo:
Kevin
Carter
(Getty
Images)
Photo:
Joe
Raedle
(Getty
Images)
Photo:
Joe
Raedle
(Getty
Images)
Spirit
Airlines
didn’t
fare
much
better
than
JetBlue
in
2023.
Its
organizational
woes
stretched
beyond
mishandling
bags
as
a
technical
issue
impacting
the
Spirit
website
and
mobile
app
delayed
90
percent
of
its
flights
on
a
single
day
last
August.
Photo:
Mario
Tama
(Getty
Images)
Photo:
Bruce
Bennett
(Getty
Images)
Photo:
Bruce
Bennett
(Getty
Images)
Photo:
Michael
Ciaglo
(Getty
Images)
Okay,
the
DOT’s
statistics
do
contain
some
good
news.
The
national
average
of
0.58
BMPH
mentioned
earlier
is
an
improvement
over
2022’s
average
of
0.64
BMPH.
In
raw
numbers,
over
185,000
fewer
bags
were
mishandled.
Good
things
happen
when
regulators
hold
airlines
accountable
for
how
they
treat
their
passengers.
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