What Happens to Airlines’ Unclaimed Baggage?

08.12.2023 - 15:05 / afar.com

There are few moments in the travel experience more disheartening than watching the baggage carousel come to a halt and realizing your suitcase didn’t make it to your destination. At best, it’s a hiccup in your plans, and at worst, you could lose the suitcase and its contents forever.

In 2022, some 26 million bags were mishandled (meaning delayed, damaged, lost, or stolen) worldwide, according to SITA, an IT provider for the air transport industry. That equates to roughly 7.6 bags out of every 1,000 passengers—a number that has been increasing since the onset of the pandemic, partly due to staffing shortages.

While most of those bags eventually make it back to their owners, about 7 percent (or 1.8 million) are completely lost worldwide each year. That can happen for any number of reasons: a damaged or lost tag, a technology glitch, or human error, such as an agent typing in the wrong airport code.

When an airline passenger checks a bag, the agent will put a barcode sticker on it for tracking. This code contains a lot of information, including your destination, time of departure, an International Air Transportation Association (IATA) airport code, your flight number, and your first and last name. If the bag is then lost, the airline can use the barcode to trace where the item was last scanned.

Sometimes, though, it may not be able to find the bag in the expected location, and in those cases, the airline will take additional measures. For example, Amy Fisher, a consumer public relations manager at United, explains that her company will solicit further details from the owner. “We inventory the bag, and we also ask the passenger to fill out a detailed claim form with the content,” she says. “We use software to match the information from all the airlines’ inventory efforts to the description of the passenger and find the bag.”

To help with all of this, many airlines use WorldTracer, a third-party tracing and matching system owned by SITA, for reporting lost bags and reuniting them with their owners.

The IATA requires airlines to hold onto bags for a minimum of 90 days. If the airline is unable to reunite a bag with its owner, the airline throws in the towel and reimburses the owner, up to $3,800, as mandated by the Department of Transportation. To get that money, though, you may need to submit receipts for the items in the bag.

Even if your bag is merely delayed, you may be able to get some payback. Both Delta and Alaska have 20-minute guarantees: If your bag doesn’t come out of the carousel within that time frame, Delta will give you miles and Alaska will give you miles or a travel credit.

As truckloads of luggage arrive at Unclaimed Baggage, the staff sorts through all the contents, clearing electronics