I was a little surprised to read that your checked bag is 3x as likely to be delayed, lost or stolen in Europe than in the United States, or at least so reports Reuters. This appears mostly due to union strikes and work stoppages.
European airlines lost, damaged or pilfered about nine bags/1,000 passengers last year, US domestic carriers 3.22 bags/1,000 and the consistent lowest rate honor goes to Asia carriers at just 1.96/1,000 passengers. Irish airline Ryanair was an exception to the rule saying it mishandled a mere 0.36 bags/1000 passengers last year, although many of its customers don’t check bags.
Read more on this story from Reuters at this link.
