Double-check your bags when flying with these carriers.
A new report takes a close look at mishandled luggage over the past three years — and the numbers are jolting.
Shipping site MyBaggage.com pored over a wealth of data supplied by the U.S. Department of Transportion that details the total amount of luggage — including wheelchairs and mobility scooters — checked in by airlines between January of 2021 through January 2024.
Those numbers were then cross-referenced with the 7 million-plus lost items reported over the same time period, which allowed researchers to form a list of airlines with the worst track record for getting traveler belongings to the correct destination — on time and in order.
First and worst was American Airlines, which struggled with 1,750,009 lost luggage reports — that’s an average of 8.71 disappeared bags per 1,000 that were loaded onto an aircraft.
Second came Envoy Airlines — American’s largest regional carrier, formerly known as American Eagle — with 224,236 reports. that’s a rate of 8.25 lost for every 1,000.
Third was Republic Airways, which stood out for mismanaging nearly 500 wheelchairs and other mobility devices among 194,189 items of lost luggage. The airline, which acts as another regional airline for American, as well as Delta and United, averaged 7.01 bags lost out of 1,000.
Fourth was door-losing Alaska Airlines — out of 60 million bags, 402,781 had been mishandled for an average of 6.69 per 1,000.
United Airlines came in fifth with a score of 6.43 lost bags for every 1,000. The carrier saw a whopping nearly 3,350 wheelchairs go missing, out of its 932,000 total lost items.
PSA Airlines was sixth with 6.06 per thousand and a total of 207,060 lost bag reports from 34 million. Of that, 23,508 were mobility devices.
In seventh, JetBlue, recently panned as the nation’s worst airline, lost 251,388 of its 44 million bags in the three year span for a 5.67 average for every 1,000.
JetBlue has mishandled a ranking-high 33 out of 1,000 mobility devices with a total of 2,661 out of 79,461.
Delta affiliate SkyWest lost 439,290 bags from its 38.6 million passengers for an average of 5.28 per 1,000 to take eighth place. Delta itself was ninth with 1,107,525 missing bags out of 217 million — equivalent to 5.10 out of 1,000. Of the total, 3,317 were mobility devices.
Then, finally in tenth was Spirit Airlines. Of 37 million bags, 185,610 were mishandled. It comes out to approximately 4.93 out of 1,000 pieces of luggage.
