Omaha 23rd in mid-sized hubs for lost luggage

[thenewguy]

Epply 23rd worst out of 37:

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/page?id=3978 ... %20Airport

You can go to the site, read up a little bit; said that only 1 out of every 53,000 flyers have made claims of lost or stolen luggage.  Pretty good odds, i'd say.  They also had on there a list of how much stuff was worth that was lost:

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/page?id=3978179


Airport Rankings for Theft and Loss Complaints
Worst to Best
The FAA categorizes airports according to the number of passengers. We've compared like-sized airports to rank which received the greatest number of complaints per passenger about items missing from luggage. This ranking is for all Medium-Hub Airports that had thefts or losses reported between Jan. 2003 - April 2006, the latest TSA data available. The ranking is from greatest to least number of theft and loss complaints.


Rank Airport City State  
1 Palm Beach International West Palm Beach Florida Missing Items
2 Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Anchorage Alaska Missing Items
3 Norfolk International Norfolk Virginia Missing Items
4 New Orleans International Metairie Louisiana Missing Items
5 Tucson International Tucson Arizona Missing Items
6 Manchester Regional Airport Manchester New Hampshire Missing Items
...............
18 Nashville International Nashville Tennessee Missing Items
19 Cleveland Hopkins International Cleveland Ohio Missing Items
20 San Antonio International San Antonio Texas Missing Items
21 Raleigh-Durham International Raleigh North Carolina Missing Items
22 John Wayne Santa Ana California Missing Items
23 Eppley Airfield Omaha Nebraska Missing Items
24 Sacramento International Airport Sacramento California Missing Items
25 Jacksonville International Jacksonville Florida Missing Items
26 Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Austin Texas Missing Items
................
34 Kahului-Maui, HI Kahului Hawaii Missing Items
35 Memphis International Airport Memphis Tennessee Missing Items
36 Dallas Love Field Dallas Texas Missing Items
37 Kansas City International Kansas City Missouri Missing Items

[Brad]

Overall, not bad.  However the industry as a whole.... not good.  I would not think it would be that hard to match luggage with customers.  I bet it comes down to a lack of staff due to the industry's financial situation.

[thenewguy]

They talked on tv about it and they said that one of the biggest problems they had were mis-routing luggage (understandable) but another big cause for concern were bags that simply got left behind.  There is a place in i believe TN that collects and sells all the unclaimed luggage.  If it sits unclaimed for 90 days, any sellable contents are kept (the rest are discarded) and then they sell the luggage.  They said that the airlines don't try hard enough to match belongings to owners.  ABC news bought several items (wheel chair, mink hat, sunglasses, etc) and was able to track down the owners of each in about 30 min.  So what's the problem?  They said that 1/1000th of 1% of missing luggage/items is due to theft.  They did show people sorting through bags on hidden cameras, steeling wedding rings, underwear, etc, which bothered me.  Needless to say they were terminated and prosecuted.

[the1wags]

I was going to say that this could be misleading depending on how they figure this. One time I flew back from SLC last year, once I got back here my suitcase was missing. Sure it was filed as missing here but it either never made the plane in SLC or missed the layover in Denver. I had it back by 9AM the next day though so it all worked out.

[Omababe]

Overall, not bad.  However the industry as a whole.... not good.

Now over 30 years of semi-frequently flying out of Omaha, I've only had one bag not there waiting for me. It was "interlined" to United and there was a lot of back and forth finger-pointing, but it did get here the next day.

Compared to other airports, I think Eppley has very good and prompt baggage service.

I would not think it would be that hard to match luggage with customers.  I bet it comes down to a lack of staff due to the industry's financial situation.

Midway (Chicago) used to do this until a couple years ago. They were very thorough about it too. McCarran in Las Vegas did it until about (yeah, go figure) 9-11.

I've never had a bag totally disappear (knocking on wood) but I've had them delayed until the next flight occasionally, and a couple of times even beat me there when I missed a tight connection and my bag did not!