I found this on the Net, an overview over the frequency of lost luggage with some of the major European airlines. I figured this might be of interest to travelling sportsmen.

The numbers apparently come from the "The Association of European Airlines" (AEA). The fact that large airlines top the list supposedly has something to do with volume of passengers and operation through large hubs. I don't know which year this statistic represents, nor do I know how many of the lost luggage pieces were eventually recovered - I have heard that should be somewhere above 90%??

Sorry, I can't format the data into tabular form. The columns signify
1) rank (from worse to better)
2) name of carrier
3) total passengers transported
4) pieces of luggage missing per 1000 passengers

quote:

1 British Airways 45.554.351 23,0
2 TAP Air Portugal 7.463.113 21,0
3 Lufthansa 54.266.920 18,1
4 Air France 55.148.558 16,6
5 Alitalia 25.536.440 16,5
6 KLM 22.684.094 16,4
6 Luxair 551.696 16,4
8 Iberia 33.667.918 15,5
9 LOT Polish Airlines 3.896.300 14,8
10 Finnair 7.615.517 14,2
11 Austrian 10.947.227 13,8
12 SAS Scandinavian 27.074.911 13,3
13 SN Brussels Airlines 2.466.351 12,7
14 Croatia Airlines 1.569.433 11,8
15 CSA Czech Airlines 5.560.864 10,8
16 Swiss International Airlines 11.340.159 10,0
17 Icelandair 1.820.983 9,8
18 Adria Airways 1.013.588 9,6
19 Spanair 10.560.417 9,5
20 Malev Hungarian Airlines 3.212.164 8,9
21 Tarom Romanian Airlines 842.092 8,3
22 Air One 6.025.926 8,1
23 Turkish Airlines 17.095.547 4,7
24 Air Malta 979.615 4,4

- mike

The figures bear out my flight experience pretty closely.

Except with Lufthansa (note my address line - I obviously fly with them frequently) that have a 100% track record with me. It could be because of the upgraded Check-In and Baggage weight allowence I receive - dunno.

I hate to bash a looser but BA almost never manages to get my suitcase & myself from FKT/London or London/FKT together on the same flight. When I fly with them now; if possible I attempt to fly only with hand luggage.

I just returned from two weeks hunting in Spain flew via British Airways. My luggage arrived in Madrid the same day but on the next flight. I was hunting in Albacete two hours from Madrid.
BA finally delivered my luggage was delivered six days after my arrival. We offered to send a bonded courier to retrieve my bags but BA refused to release my bags to a second party because of "security reasons".I always got the same story from the morons in their call center that my baggage was on the truck for delivery. No hunting(or other)clothing for six days. On my return to the States on BA the luggage did not arrive at JFK (along with 30 other people). My luggage was delivered seven days after arrival and BA had no idea where the luggage was in the interum.
I payed for the ticket with Visa and I am disputing payment because of BA's bad service. I may not win but BA will have to fight for the fare. Definately do NOT FLY BA or if you do expect to hunt in your street clothing.

Ed

When I posted the statistics, I was not intending to bash anybody's national airline, so please don't take it as such. All airlines loose luggage from time to time - witness the numbers in the original post. But I must admit that BA and Heathrow (their home airport and major hub) have a miserable reputation in particular among travelling sportsmen from Continental Europe. The accounts of lost luggage - in particular guncases - are pretty numerous. Sad state of affairs.

- mike

Mike, I think the particular problem is Heathrow. If any major airline hubbed there they would have the same problems as BA. It is generally known as "Thiefrow". Security, particularly in bagage and cargo areas is notoriously poor. There have been several multi-million robberies over recent years.

There was actually an article on the subject in todays Daily Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessioni...007/08/03/do0301.xml

From what I understand, the basic security at Heathrow is much improved compared to what it was..

With regards the lost/delayed luggage ect, I wonder if it has anything to do with the new terminal being built?

If you gents wouldn't mind a "colonial" butting in, my wife and I were in Spain in June; had to spend the first 2 (the wife) and 3 (me) days with out luggage in Madrid, courtesy of Air France. (Long story that started with United's fault.) I appreciate the list and was glad to see Iberia further on down and Spanair even further down. We flew them both later on in our trip and they were both comparable, or even better in some ways to our American airlines. I noticed that Iberia flys down to Johannesburg, so I might even consider overnighting in Madrid the next time I go to Southern Africa.
Thanks again for posting.