There is a moment every traveler dreads: standing at the carousel as the belt slows, the crowd thins, and your suitcase never appears.
It happened 24 million times last year.
A new global report on airline baggage says the industry is losing fewer bags than it used to. It also shows that the risk is far from evenly spread, and that one type of journey accounts for a large share of the problem.
24 Million Bags Went Astray
The figures come from SITA, the technology company that runs much of the world’s airline baggage tracking. Its 2026 Baggage IT Insights report found that five billion passengers flew in 2025 and 24 million bags were mishandled along the way.
That counts every bag that was delayed, damaged or lost for good.
There is some good news in the report. The mishandling rate fell 23 percent to 4.9 bags per 1,000 passengers, the best result outside the pandemic recovery years, and it has now dropped below pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
That is little comfort to the traveler whose bag is one of the 24 million.
The Trip That Puts Your Luggage Most at Risk
The report is clear about where things go wrong. Transfers between flights were behind 39 percent of all mishandled bags in 2025.
Every connection gives a suitcase another chance to be misrouted, left on the tarmac or loaded onto the wrong plane. A tight connection at a large hub raises the odds that the passenger makes the flight and the bag does not.
International trips are riskier still. The global rate on international journeys was 9.12 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers, nearly double the overall figure. Some regions perform far worse than others. On international routes Africa recorded 15 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers, while the Middle East managed 5.3.
For Americans flying to Europe with a connection, this is the type of trip most likely to end at the lost luggage desk.
Why Airlines Are Paying Attention
Lost bags are not only a misery for passengers. They are expensive for airlines.
SITA now estimates that each mishandled bag costs an airline an average of $260, up from the long-quoted figure of $150. Across the industry that adds up to $6.3 billion a year.
The report points out that airlines make an average net profit of around $8 per passenger. On that basis, a single mishandled bag can wipe out the profit from more than 30 seats, and five can erase the profit from an entire flight.
That gives airlines a strong reason to fix the problem, and it is also why they are welcoming help from technology passengers already carry.
The Gadget That Changed the Numbers
The most striking finding in the report concerns personal luggage trackers.
Apple now lets passengers share the location of an AirTag in their bag directly with airlines through SITA’s WorldTracer system, which airlines use to trace missing luggage. In its first year, bags tracked this way saw permanently lost luggage fall by 90 percent, and recovery times for delayed bags dropped by 26 percent.
Android users now have a similar option. SITA has added Google’s Find Hub location sharing to the same system.
A tracker will not stop a bag from missing a connection. It does mean that when it goes missing, the traveler and the airline can see exactly where it is, which makes a lost bag far more likely to be recovered.
Before You Panic: Your Odds Are Still Good
Most bags arrive with their owners. The overall rate of 4.9 per 1,000 means that more than 99 percent of passengers collect their luggage as normal.
Most mishandled bags are also delayed rather than lost for good. SITA says delays account for about 70 percent of the industry’s mishandling costs, and the great majority of delayed bags are reunited with their owners within a few days.
The risk is real, but for most trips it is small, and it can be reduced further.
How to Protect Your Luggage
A few simple precautions make a real difference:
- Put a tracker in every checked bag. An Apple AirTag or an Android-compatible tracker costs around $30 and is now the single most effective tool for getting a missing bag back.
- Avoid tight connections. Allow at least 90 minutes on domestic connections and two hours or more on international ones, especially at large hubs.
- Fly nonstop when you can. With transfers behind nearly four in ten mishandled bags, a direct flight removes the biggest risk.
- Carry the essentials with you. Medications, chargers, a change of clothes and anything valuable or irreplaceable should go in your carry-on, never in the hold.
- Photograph your bag and its contents. Pictures make a claim faster and harder to dispute.
- Report it before you leave the airport. File a mishandled baggage report at the airline desk and keep the reference number.
- Ask for your bag fee back. Under federal rules introduced in 2024, US airlines must refund your checked bag fee if the bag is not delivered within 12 hours of a domestic flight arriving, or within 15 to 30 hours on international flights, depending on the length of the flight. You must file a mishandled baggage report first.
The Bottom Line
Airlines are getting better at keeping bags and passengers together, but 24 million mishandled suitcases a year shows the system is still far from perfect. For travelers with connecting flights, especially internationally, a small tracker and a little planning are now the best insurance against arriving at your destination with nothing but the clothes you are wearing.
Source: SITA 2026 Baggage IT Insights Report, as reported by CFOtech and Engineering News. Baggage fee refund rules from the US Department of Transportation.
Amanda O’Brien is the creator and editor of The Boutique Adventurer. She has visited 80 countries and is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers as well as the IFTWTA. She is passionate about wine had has just completed Level 3 of the WSET. Born in Australia, she lives in London.