The world’s airlines have continued to up their game at keeping passengers and their bags together, according to a new report from SITA, an air transport industry service organization. For 2017, losses reached the lowest level ever.
SITA’s annual baggage report claims a record low rate of 5.57 missing bags per thousand passengers, a rate that’s more than 70% lower than in the first report 14 years ago. But still, with a bit over 4 billion passengers, that’s over 22 million bags gone astray. SITA estimates the cost to the industry at about $2.3 billion.
That cost is a big part of why the industry has been investing in high-tech tracking systems that are starting to show up in RFID tags and other devices to allow passengers as well as airlines to track bags.
In June, a new regulation adopted 5 years ago by the International Air Transport Association goes into effect, requiring airlines to check and recheck bags at four critical points: when they take it from you, when it’s loaded into the plane, when it comes off, and when it gets back to you.
