Lost Luggage By UK Airports & Airlines

Ever been one of the unlucky few to wait around at baggage reclaim and for the hall to empty and your luggage not to appear? You’re not the only one. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, while many might become “delayed” a surprising number of incidences of lost luggage in UK airports occur each year…with some airports more likely to lose your bags than others.

Analysing data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), via a recently released Freedom Of Information (FOI) request, I’ve taken a look at which airports and Airlines have lost the most bags between the start of 2017 and the end of 2021, revealing the airports and airlines and most likely to lose your bags.

UK lost luggage data points

• 361 pieces of luggage were lost by airlines and airports servicing travellers to and from the UK between 2017 and 2021
• London Heathrow was involved in 93 of the 361 (25.76%) cases of lost luggage reported to the CAA since 2017, the worst of any airport
• London Gatwick (14.13%) and Manchester (9.42%) were the second and third most common airports to be involved in lost luggage complaints
• Royal Air Maroc was the reported airline in CAA lost luggage reports (46), followed by Iberia (30) and Ryanair (26)

Which airports lose the most luggage?

Data from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) showed that since 2017 over 360 pieces of luggage have been reported to them as lost by travellers to and from the UK. However, this does not take into account those that are delayed, stolen or damaged, meaning this figure is likely to be far far higher.

When looking to understand more about which airports are being referenced in lost luggage complaints, I found that London Heathrow (93) is the worst and most commonly referenced airport in people’s lost luggage complaints to the CAA.

Across the five years of data, London Heathrow was mentioned in one in four (25.76%) complaints, either as the departure or arrival airport.

Behind London Heathrow, the airports with the most lost luggage complaints involving them are London Gatwick (51) and Manchester (34). Of the total complaints sent to the CAA, 14.13% referenced London Gatwick and 9.42% referenced Manchester.

Airports that lost the most luggage since 2017

Given that the CAA data is UK body, focusing on UK airports and airline carriers, I’ve provided a breakdown of how UK airports compare against each other.

UK Airports that have lost the most luggage

*CAA data retrieved via public FOI notifications

It’s worth noting at this point, that since 2017 the amount of lost luggage reported to the CAA has fallen by 71.05%, with 114 reports of lost luggage reported to the CAA in 2017 and just 33 in 2021.

(Further data explaining the number of lost, stolen, delayed, and damaged luggage will hopefully be available soon)

Over the course of this same period, passenger numbers in UK airports fell from 73,804,248 in 2017 to 64,442,194, a 12.68% drop, caused predominantly by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK travel industry. Meaning, that while airports have seen a reduction in lost bags they’ve also seen a drop in passengers.

Which airports lose the most luggage?

While airports are typically the main handlers of people’s luggage, airlines also play a part in transporting people’s bags from one destination to another. Luckily, to help with my examination, data from the CAA revealed just how many bags are lost by airlines in the 2017 to 2021 period.

Analysis found that between 2017 and 2021, Royal Air Maroc were reported in the most complaints (46), followed by Iberia (30) and Ryanair (24). 

Airlines that have lost the most bags since 2017

Sadly, the UK’s aviation authority provides less data than its U.S. counterparts when it comes to airline and airport data. 

However, as the table shows, complaints about lost luggage do appear to be more focused on the airports rather than the airlines. Suggesting that while airlines might (rightly in many cases) get the brunt of people’s complaints when it comes to the handling of their luggage, a lot of the issues would appear to be coming from and trending towards the airports.

Methodology:

Data from this analysis was sourced via public Freedom of Information (FOI) data released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). 

To analyse the data and provide an insight into the airports and airlines that are most likely to be involved in lost luggage complaints to the CAA, I calculated the departure and arrival destinations contained within reports, to provide an overall figure of how many complaints reference each airport. This figure was then divided by the overall total number of complaints (361) to provide a percentage of total complaints per airport.

For more information about the analysis or if you have any questions, please do feel free to leave a comment below.

Sources.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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