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Complaints of lost bags by airlines rise

More 'bumped' as carriers push for fuller planes
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | February 8, 2007

Complaints by US airline passengers about lost and mishandled luggage jumped 39 percent last year, fueled in large part by an increase in checked bags following last summer's ban on carry-on liquids.
Along with generating more than 1 million additional baggage complaints than in 2005, US airlines also "bumped" -- or refused to board -- 22.8 percent more passengers in 2006 than a year earlier. Nearly 56,000 passengers -- about 1 of every 10,000 -- were involuntarily turned away from overbooked flights, and another 621,000 were persuaded to voluntarily give up seats, usually with promises of free tickets.
The figures come from the US Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics , which yesterday released the first full-year data for 2006, a year when 555.1 million passengers flew on the 19 largest US airlines.
Both the baggage and bumping figures, travel specialists say, are side effects of a concerted drive by airlines to fly fewer, smaller, fuller planes as the industry claws back to profitability from the post-Sept. 11, 2001, collapse in travel, soaring jet fuel prices, and bankruptcy reorganizations by four of the biggest US carriers.
"There are 10 to 15 percent fewer seats being flown around than there were on Sept. 10, 2001, and as you have fewer seats you have more overbooking, more bumping, and more complaints from passengers," said Jerry Chandler , North American travel editor for CheapFlights.com , a Boston travel shopping site. "This all comes down to the results of airlines constraining capacity in hopes of improving their profits."
Some of the same airlines show up at the top and bottom of the bumping and bag-complaint lists.
Of major national carriers, JetBlue Airways Corp. posted the least number of complaints about lost luggage, with a rate of 4.1 per 1,000 customers, compared to an industrywide average of 6.7. JetBlue also led all carriers, including regional commuter-plane operators, for bumping the fewest passengers, turning away just 126 of the 18.6 million passengers it served.
At the bottom of the list were two Delta Express carriers, Atlantic Southeast Airlines and Comair , which both had bumping and baggage complaints at roughly double the industry average.
All six of the worst airlines for bag complaints were regional jet and commuter plane operators, which are far more likely than operators of big jets to have to leave bags off crowded flights to make weight limits.
Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin said the airline was disappointed and is "working with our regional partners to deliver the kind of performance our customers expect and deserve."
David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents major US carriers, said many of the complaints about bumping and baggage are "kind of a ripple effect" from flights being delayed and canceled.
The long-term answer, Castelveter said, is Congress and President Bush funding a better, satellite-based air traffic-control system and making private plane owners cover more of air traffic-control costs.
Bumping can happen when flights get canceled and passengers have to be accommodated on other flights.
But airlines seeking to maximize revenue by avoiding, as much as possible, flying empty seats always face the temptation to sell one or two more tickets than a flight actually can accommodate, counting on one or two ticketed passengers not showing up to fly.
JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said, "We have the lowest bumped-customer rate in the business because we do not overbook our flights. Period."
In rare instances where JetBlue had to turn away ticketed passengers it was to accommodate emergency situations, such as a plane being grounded for maintenance and replaced by a smaller aircraft, Dervin said, adding that while "overbooking is an accepted industry practice, we think it's just unacceptable."
Locally, Logan International Airport was among the many US airports where on-time performance slipped slightly last year compared to 2005. For both years, Logan ranked seventh-worst among the 31 biggest US airports for on-time arrivals. But for 2006, flights arriving over 15 minutes late at Logan crept up to 28.2 percent, from 27.5 a year earlier.
For departures, Logan fell one spot to 12th worst from a year earlier, with 22.6 percent of flights leaving over 15 minutes late. Logan officials noted that the overwhelming majority of flight delays are caused by factors outside the airport's control, including weather and air-traffic-control delays elsewhere in the country.
Newark Liberty International Airport, as it did in 2005, again ranked as the nation's worst airport for delayed arrivals. Three out of every eight flights landed over 15 minutes late there last year.
Other problem airports for delayed arrivals were, in order, New York's LaGuardia, Chicago's O'Hare, New York's John F. Kennedy International, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, followed by Logan.