Report Says Airlines Lost 30M Bags in 2005

200,000 of those bags were never reunited with their owners

Thats ridiculous, I have had lost luggage before and I know how hard it is to get credit for what was in the bags.

I lost them once but we had 10 minutes between when we got on the ground and when the next plane took off. I can't blame them for that.

thaaaaaaaat sucks.

I was just glad to make my plane.

http://onebag.com/home.html

I frequently visit Unclaimed Baggage and am always amazed at what people bring with them on planes.

Interesting point from their FAQ:

10.) Can you find my lost suitcase (glasses/laptop/jewelry/favorite sweater)?

We regret that there is no way we can help you find anything you lost while traveling. By the time luggage reaches us, every effort has been made by the airlines to find the rightful owners. Usually the bags have no identification on (or in) them. The airlines use clues they find in the luggage, such as an itinerary or other personal documents, to try to find the owners. This effort by the airlines to return the goods results in a three to four month lag before we receive the baggage. That means the baggage that arrives at Unclaimed Baggage is anonymous and up to 120 days past the travel date.

What scares me is that if they are losing all of these bags - that means that there are some pretty serious gaps within airlines and airports that are open to security breaches.

Miss Dev is on to something.

Also, 30,000,000 seems like an enormous sum, even given the total number of trips is large as well. 200,000 divided by 365 is 547 bags per day that are gone forever. These are big numbers. That must be like a plane full of bags per day, every day. It must be harder to keep track of them than it looks.

1% is this area is waaay too high.

But hey, at least they're making us take off our shoes. So we must be safe.

I wonder if they allow barefoot airline passengers?

But hey, at least they're making us take off our shoes. So we must be safe.

Don't mention shutting down entire terminals because someone changes their mind half way thorough a down escalator and runs back up.