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Airlines should be ‘named and shamed’ over lost bags
‘Name and shame’ league tables should be published to produce a record of airlines’ performance over lost bags.
The call came as British Airways was forced to apologise for its record over lost luggage last year.
The carrier has admitted to the Air Transport Users Council that its performance in 2006 was not acceptable and it apologised to customers.
Major European airlines mishandled more than 5.6 million bags in 2006. But the figure only applies to the 24 airline members of the Association of European Airlines.
“We can only speculate on what the total might be for all airlines worldwide,” the AUC said.
BA was the worst performing airline for mishandled luggage, according to AEA statistics released by the AUC. Then came TAP Air Portugal, Lufthansa, Air France, Alitalia, KLM, Luxair, Iberia, LOT Polish Airlines, Finnair, Austrian Airlines and SAS.
The AUC said: “When passengers hand over their suitcases at check-in they should be able to expect to see them the other end. We therefore look to airlines to do all they can to improve baggage handling.
“We would like to see ‘name and shame’ league tables on as wide a geographical basis as possible to encourage airlines to avoid baggage problems in the first place.
“EC-wide league tables published by the European Commission would be a good place to start.”
The AUC added that compliants it has received show that instances of mishandled luggage can cause considerable stress, inconvenience and expense to passengers.
“They also show that passengers often stuggle to get reasonable redress from airlines after the event,” the AUC added.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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