Cases of lost and delayed baggage are skyrocketing as travelers face unprecedented problems at airports across North America and Europe, a new federal report says.
This so-called “Airmageddon” has been building for months: In April, nearly 220,000 checked bags on US airlines were lost, damaged, delayed or torn, a staggering 135% increase over the same period in 2021, the latest says According to the United States Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report released in June.
American Airlines led the field with the highest likelihood of mishandled customer baggage, with nearly 70,000 cases in April 2022 compared to approximately 37,000 in April 2021. Alaska, Jet Blue, Delta, and United had the second-highest mishandled baggage rates, in that order.
American has topped the list for two consecutive years, while Delta, United, and Alaska all declined, knocking Spirit out of the top five in April 2022.
Consumer baggage complaints against US and foreign airlines increased even further — by 619% over the past year.
The total number of consumer complaints about airlines rose 147%, according to the report
Add to this what passengers describe as terrible customer service from the airlines, what happens with all the lost and damaged bags.
“The biggest thing that’s so disheartening and kind of traumatizing is the complete lack of respect and communication for consumers,” Kartik Akileswaran, whose bags have been missing for over a week, told The Post.
US-born Akileswaran, 37, and his wife Uthara Ganesh, 33, flew more than 4,000 miles from their current home in New Delhi, India, to Paris, France, to attend a friend’s wedding.
When they landed, they waited so long for their bags that they missed the wedding, leaving her “completely distraught.”
Chris Wood, a retiree in her 70s who lives in Scotland, lost her luggage on a return flight from Montreal to Edinburgh late last week.
Wood said she and her husband spent seven days calling, emailing and tweeting the airport and the airline “with no response.” They received their luggage only after a stranger found their bag abandoned at the airport and contacted Wood’s husband via an email address on the bag’s ID tag.
Wood called the experience “a nightmare” which she attributed to “really poor communication” between airlines, airports and travelers. “Customer relations were really bad, customer support was non-existent,” she said.
Last week, Louis Quinones, 50, flew from Tampa, Fla. to Berlin, Germany with a suitcase full of drugs, electronics and family heirlooms that have since been lost.
For over a week, he’s been navigating what he calls a “customer service desert” without “human contact.”
“Not only did you not find it, you did [there’s] no communication at all,” he said. “No one called me to ease my discomfort.”
Experts attribute the travel chaos to staff shortages and labor strikes. Delta Airlines pilots picketed outside US airports last week for higher wages and more time off. Airline workers in France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark are currently on strike for higher wages and British Airways narrowly avoided a threatened strike on Thursday.
Ganesh and Akileswaran said they sympathized with the striking workers but were still discouraged at the total lack of communication. The airline’s voicemail was full during a recent call, Akileswaran said.
“At this point, it’s a black hole,” said Ganesh, 33, a technical executive who flies frequently and said she’s never seen anything like it. “Honestly, it seems like the worst time in history.”
A spokesman for Berlin Brandenburg Airport said: “There are currently delays in baggage handling at the major hubs due to staffing problems. … Due to the staffing situation at the airports there, the luggage cannot be unloaded, sorted and transferred to the next plane in time.”
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as airports in Tampa, Edinburgh, Brussels and Toronto referred The Post to airlines and ground-handling contractors. SriLankan Airlines, Lufthansa and AirFrance did not respond to requests for comment.
With mail wires