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In "true" lost baggage, I mean the loss of your baggage that is ultimately not returned to an owner and ends up in compensation.

According to the post here, the probability of the baggage being lost is 0.3%. However, this includes cases that the baggage is ultimately returned to the owner, which I assume consists of the most lost baggage occurences.

I would rather like to know how probable it is for you to lose your baggage completely. Is there any research or statistics on this area? Since the expected amount of money on compensation is ridiculously low in my humble opinion, I feel scared of this happening.

smci
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Blaszard
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2 Answers2

31

From the data available here which is sourced from Air Travel Consumer Report issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation, 0.021% of luggage is never found

The rate of mishandled bags dropped 21% to about seven per 1,000 passengers.The good news about lost luggage is that airlines worldwide eventually recover 97% of mishandled bags.Of all mishandled bags, 81% were simply delayed, 16% were damaged or pilfered and 3% were declared lost or stolen and never found.

0.007*0.03 = 0.00021 = 0.021% of the total......

JonathanReez
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Augustine of Hippo
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9

Also some data here: (and bonus - you may find your lost stuff ;)

Although over 99.5% of domestic airline’s checked bags are picked up at the baggage carousel, lost luggage is an unfortunate part of airline travel. The airlines conduct an extensive three-month tracing process with the remaining .5% of unclaimed bags in an effort to reunite them with their owners, resulting in an astonishingly small fraction of a percent of bags that are ultimately orphaned.

https://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/about/

NKCampbell
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