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Upgraded Points released a new report on mishandled luggage and found that American Airlines is the carrier most likely to cause your bags to arrive damaged or get lost in transit. The travel news site analyzed data from the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report to determine these findings.
The highest rate of baggage-related grievances goes to American Airlines with 0.90 mishandled bags (per 100 enplaned bags). Here is how the rest of the US airlines rank:
- United Airlines (0.68 mishandled bags per 100)
- Alaska Airlines (0.64 mishandled bags per 100)
- Delta Air Lines (0.49 mishandled bags per 100)
- Southwest Airlines (0.44 mishandled bags per 100)
- Spirit Airlines (0.43 mishandled bags per 100)
- Frontier Airlines (0.42 mishandled bags per 100)
- Hawaiian Airlines (0.40 mishandled bags per 100)
- JetBlue Airways (0.36 mishandled bags per 100)
- Allegiant Air (0.30 mishandled bags per 100)
Surprisingly, the low-cost carriers all ranked better than the legacy airlines with Allegiant Air as the best.
When looking at lost or damaged bags at individual airports around the United States, Florida seems to be the place most likely to give guests headaches with six of the top 10 worst airports residing in the Sunshine State. The top 10 includes:
- Orlando International Airport (MCO)
- New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- Palm Beach International Airport (PBI)
- Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
- Miami International Airport (MIA)
- Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW)
- Jacksonville International Airport (JAX)
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
- Sacramento International Airport (SMF)
On the other side of the coin, the best airports for baggage handling don’t seem to hit in any one geographic region or state. Here are the airports with the least number of complaints around damaged or lost bags:
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
- Kansas City International Airport (MCI)
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
- Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP)
Anthony’s Take: The best advice for not having to deal with damaged or lost baggage is to not check anything, ever. I have checked only a handful of bags in thousands of flights and if I can’t carry it on than I don’t need it.
(Image Credits: Ralf Geithe and Upgraded Points.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
