Why Do 26 Million Checked Bags Go Missing Every Year?

I guess we could not criminalize until you federalize.

Play on "You can't professionalize unless you federalize," agreed Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

The article also notes another reason why the arrival of the TSA coincided with an increase:

"The arrival of the TSA, which should have heightened security throughout airports, actually created an opportunity for petty thievery, he says. “When you have the TSA and local law enforcement watching for terrorists, this takes the priority off of thieves stealing luggage from the carousel.”

Sorry, but you're wrong.

26 million bags were not lost - most were delayed in connection. Which means you ran to your next flight and made it just in time, but your bag travels slower than you do. In any case, you got it back a few hours or a day later, all contents intact (or did you cheat the insurance? haa? :)

Few (although some) baggage handlers have the time to ruffle through your bag ni the short time they strive to load, unload, and transfer hundreds of bags from one flight to the next twenty.

The fact is that most baggage handlers are honest, while a few are not. Like in any business.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

26 million bags were not lost - most were delayed in connection. Which means you ran to your next flight and made it just in time, but your bag travels slower than you do. In any case, you got it back a few hours or a day later, all contents intact (or did you cheat the insurance? haa? :)

Few (although some) baggage handlers have the time to ruffle through your bag ni the short time they strive to load, unload, and transfer hundreds of bags from one flight to the next twenty.

The fact is that most baggage handlers are honest, while a few are not. Like in any business.

Edit: Thanks for the downvotes. Lovely. For refuting the OPs ridiculous claim that:

"The fact is that baggage handlers at airports are criminals who make money stealing things. There are exceptions, I am sure a few are honest. Not many though."

I worked in baggage handling for 10 years. I never saw anyone steal anything from any bags. Nobody opened any bags without witnesses (supervisors). I saw delayed bags due to - in order by reason - 1.) misconnection due to delayed flights, 2.) baggage airport system failures 3.) Weather (indirectly causing point 1, 2 and 4) 4.) Human error (rare).

> When I used to travel with checked baggage, it almost always got stolen or lost.

Your experiences seem to be exceptionally bad.

I'd be interested to hear what airline and routes you traveled. And did you have connections? Also, do you mean that some objects were stolen or the whole bad disappeared?

I regularly traveled internationally with lots of expensive gear in my checked luggage and never had it lost or stolen. But usually I travel on direct flights with no connection.

>Given that checked bags cost money now

Not as much as FedEx. Checking a 50-pound bag with United from SFO to AUS costs $25. Shipping a 50-pound package via FedEx costs twice as much, and that's assuming you can afford to be without the things in your bag for up to 4 business days. If you can't, overnight shipping is $288.

Timing, cost, and marginal return on investment of effort.

Timing: When you check your bag, it travels with you. As a result, it arrives at the same time as you. It also spends the minimum amount of time outside your possession. These two traits are desirable to travelers.

Cost: If you were to ship your bag, most travelers would need overnight service, because travelers simply don't pack two or three days ahead. The cost of shipping your travel supplies overnight isn't going to offer a cost advantage to the $25 (estimated) it costs to check your bag.

Marginal return: Yes, it would be possible to plan ahead and ship your bag through a parcel carrier's ground service, but depending upon where you're traveling to, that can take 5 days. That's a lot of planning, and the marginal increase in risk (of lost baggage) doesn't offset the time and effort required to "optimize" against this risk.

$25/$50 international shipping for a large 50 pound box is hard to beat.

Would rates be at all competitive? Most checked baggage is quite heavy, and the cost to ship something overnight, or even 1-2 day would most likely be quite higher than the fee your airline charges per bag (which unlike FedEx it travels with you). Maybe for a planned well in advance trip where you ship items you won't need for a couple days it might make sense but I can't see it working for the short 3-4 hour business trip.

it's about the captain (while there can be many pilots, the captain is one), he's in control of the aircraft and the last word is always his.

Yet I've heard they can get orders to wait f.x. for premium clients.

And the fact pilots (in the U.S. anyway) make only slightly more money than a McDonalds employee.

If it wasn't his call, that would mean that somebody else would be telling him to wait for bags, or to go right away. That seems worse, not better.

Jet Fucking Blue

I recently landed at SFO, near midnight, and found that their handlers had completely sheered a wheel of my suitcase. The pull handle was also busted. And this was a bag tough enough to survive 15 years of use without trouble.

Exhausted, I went home, thinking I could deal with it in the morning. JetBlue told me that they weren't taking responsibility for anything reported more than four hours after the fact "to reduce fraud", they said.

Here's the thing. They know how many bags they ruin. They also know that the likelihood of a person buying an airline ticket in order to get a "free" suitcase is vanishingly small. So they can tell that while it's possible I'm hustling them, it's also very unlikely. Chances are good that they simply destroyed my bag. But instead of paying for it, they added insult to injury by stating "we have no idea whether or not you're a criminal" before telling me the four hour rule was written in stone.

That's got nothing to do with avoiding fraud, and everything to do with avoiding responsibility. I suspect I'd have gotten the same treatment (or worse) elsewhere, but still, Jet Fucking Blue.

Well... I don't find it any more amazing than the fact that they can keep most of their planes in the air. Why? Because that is the job they have agreed to do for the money I have agreed to pay. Sadly, they fail at their job... apparently 26 million times a year.

Sometimes I wonder if my luggage is even on the same flight as me. We have to check in so early these days, it would not surprise me if they chucked my bag onto any next flight that will get it to my final destination before I do. Probably not... but maybe.

Part of the trouble is that the victims often aren't local. Police departments, humanly enough, care more about solving local crimes that hurt local people, rather than crimes that hurt people "somewhere else." I agree that the FBI and other such agencies would be interested, but it's still a non-violent crime, and their resources might be better spent elsewhere.

I like how the article don't mention the final destination for all the unclaimed bags. I got a great pair of sunglasses from this place once. Then I lost them.