Silly passenger mistake behind missing luggage

It's annoying when airlines lose our luggage - but it's worse when it's our own fault.

Lost luggage is a nightmare, and often the blame is pointed squarely at the airline.

But sometimes it's our own fault.

A travel expert has revealed the silly mistake travellers make that is behind many suitcases getting lost and being sent to the wrong destination after checking in.

It seems many of us are in the bad habit of not removing old luggage tags from our bags – the tags that are printed and attracted to our bags at the check-in counter.

On a post in Reddit, the expert explained: "Not a secret, just common sense: the reason some bags miss their flight or get misrouted is because passengers don't remove old tags.

"It confuses handlers as well as the conveyor belt scanners. I see it happen all the time."

The bag tags, which are printed with a barcode, are used for identification and tracking and are meant to ensure the bag reaches its intended destination.

According to Sita, which monitors global baggage handling, 24.8 million bags went missing in 2018 — although that's out of a massive 4.3 billion bags handled globally, news.com.au reports.

And it's a big improvement on the 46.9 million that got lost in 2007, the BBC reported in June.

Problems with flights transferred or delayed have been blamed for many of those missing bags, while others have been attributed to passengers or handlers picking up the wrong one.

But there are some tips to help ensure your bag arrives at the intended destination efficiently and safely.

As well as removing old bag tags, take a photo of your bag before checking it in. If it is one of the millions that go missing every year, it will be easier for staff to find it if they know what they're looking for.

Savvy travellers also recommend plastering your suitcase with a "fragile" sticker to not only ensure it's handled with more care but put on top of the pile, which means you should get it first when it comes out of the plane.

Travellers are also advised to never put their home address on their suitcase, as it merely tells potential burglars you've gone away and left that home empty.