Lost baggage claims up 85%

InsureandGo, the travel insurance company, reports it has seen a huge increase in claims for lost baggage so far in 2007 compared to 2006.

From January to June 2006 it received 1,133 baggage claims, but for the same period in 2007 it received 2,094 – an increase of 85%.

This indicates that on average 12 bags were lost per day from InsureandGo customers during the first half of 2007 – the equivalent of one bag every two hours.

The average amount claimed for by InsureandGo’s customers who have lost their luggage is over £200, meaning that they lost the equivalent of £650,000 worth of goods in the first halves of 2006 and 2007 in total.

According to InsureandGo’s analysis of statistics from the Association of European Airlines (AEA), the amount of lost baggage throughout Europe has increased by 22% compared to 2006, despite the number of passengers increasing only 1.4%.*

AEA’s figures, however, do not include budget airlines such as EasyJet and Ryanair, whereas InsureandGo’s claims come from customers flying with both flag-carriers and budget providers.

Recent reports of baggage problems at Heathrow Airport in particular have led to calls that it is damaging the UK’s reputation abroad. Boeing 747s full of lost luggage have been flying to the US to reunite holidaymakers with their bags and clear the “luggage mountain” backlog developing at Heathrow.

Perry Wilson, managing director of InsureandGo, commented: “We have seen an enormous rise in claims for lost luggage which demonstrates the problems contained in the industry’s own figures.

"This is clearly a major problem for our customers and we urge the airline and airports industry to improve its performance in this area.

“With the summer holiday season now in full swing, we can unfortunately expect more families’ holidays to be ruined by lost baggage. We do all we can to help sort out our customers’ problems as quickly as possible, but it is up to the airlines and airport authorities to limit this issue in the first place.”

* AEA Consumer Report Q2 2006 and 2007