Show Entire Article
Not that long ago, the problem of airlines losing checked bags was so pervasive, it gave rise to a joke in which an airline hijacker tells the pilot, “I demand you take me to where my luggage is going.”
But airlines and baggage system engineers are crediting advances in technology, both the kind passengers can see and the kind they cannot, with the lowest number of mishandled bags since 2005, when the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA), an airline-owned information technology company, started publishing an annual baggage report.
In 2011, 99.1 percent of the world’s air travelers retrieved their bags at the right place at the right time, SITA reported in April . That means just under nine bags per thousand passengers were mishandled, down from more than 18 bags per thousand passengers five years ago.
Since airlines began collecting fees for checked bags , more people are carrying their luggage on the plane, reducing some of the workload for airlines. At the same time, people who are paying to have their suitcases handled contributed $3.36 billion to American carriers in 2011, according to the Department of Transportation, and those passengers have high expectations.
Page 1 of 6 | Next PageShow Entire Article
UPS News & Analysis
DATA IS REAL-TIME EXCEPT NOTED WITH *
* DATA DELAYED AT LEAST 15 MINUTES