It is the moment we all dream about. After two years in the planning, we have arrived at our holiday destination airport to be met with a wall of heat and the sun shining brightly. An extremely early start couldn't dampen our excitement as we started out on a much-needed and much-anticipated break.
But then things started to go wrong. Standing at the luggage carousel, we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Eventually, three of our four bags did emerge but a fourth was nowhere to be seen.
We all reassured ourselves that we just had to wait a bit more, but as one by one the other passengers on our plane left with their trolleys sitting full, we realised our youngest son's bag, packed full of all his best holiday togs, was missing. This experience is nothing unique to us and sadly, will ring a bell with many reading this. The number of bags being lost by airlines has surged in recent years, with one report showing incidents of lost luggage had almost doubled in 12 months.
Airlines blame the spike in mishandling of luggage on a shortage of skilled staff, the resumption of international travel and congestion that has “made it challenging to manage bags and ensure their smooth handling at airports, particularly during peak travel periods”. So says aviation IT provider SITA, who shared the findings in their 2023 Baggage IT Insights report. READ MORE: How hot it is in top holiday destinations as heatwave sweeps across Europe READ MORE: Mum furious as easyJet cancels holiday.