The reputation of airlines and airports has taken a bit of a hit this summer, mostly due to high levels of delayed or canceled flights and the rising cost of airfare—and that isn’t even considering things like lost or damaged property.
To find out which airports and airlines were the worst when it came to protecting your baggage, Forbes Advisor compared the nation’s 100 busiest airports across four metrics (using data from the Transportation Security Administration) and analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. In the end, John F. Kennedy International Airport ranked as the No. 1 worst airport for lost and damaged luggage. American Airlines was worst for most mishandled bags.
The rest of the “worst of the worst” are as follows:
The Worst Airports for Lost and Damaged Luggage
| Rank | Airport | Total Score (Out of 100) | Claims per 100,000 Passengers: Property Loss | Claims per 100,000 Passengers: Property Damage | Percentage of Claims Reimbursed in Full: Property Loss | Percentage of Claims Reimbursed in Full: Property Damage |
| 1 | John F. Kennedy International Airport | 100.00 | 1.93 | 1.48 | 18.82% | 26.82% |
| 2 | Miami International Airport | 89.88 | 1.48 | 1.06 | 24.44% | 26.31% |
| 3 | Los Angeles International Airport | 87.12 | 0.81 | 0.70 | 24.17% | 27.55% |
| 4 | Norfolk International Airport | 80.37 | 0.70 | 0.59 | 24.56% | 22.92% |
| 5 | Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport | 80.06 | 0.77 | 0.70 | 26.08% | 26.71% |
| 6 | Boston Logan International Airport | 79.29 | 0.64 | 0.71 | 20.78% | 30.74% |
| 7 | Harry Reid International Airport | 78.99 | 0.58 | 0.49 | 15.88% | 24.37% |
| 8 | Newark Liberty International Airport | 78.07 | 1.05 | 0.77 | 23.21% | 33.17% |
| 9 | Daniel K. Inouye International Airport | 76.84 | 0.79 | 0.52 | 22.68% | 26.22% |
| 10 | Dulles International Airport | 76.23 | 0.97 | 0.81 | 26.29% | 31.53% |
Top Worst Airlines for Mishandled Luggage
| Rank | Airline | Mishandled Bags per 1,000 Suitcases |
| 1 | American Airlines | 5.34 |
| 2 | SkyWest Airlines | 4.51 |
| 3 | United Airlines | 4.00 |
| 4 | Alaska Airlines | 3.80 |
| 5 | JetBlue | 3.17 |
| 6 | Frontier Airlines | 3.09 |
| 7 | Delta Air Lines | 3.08 |
| 8 | Hawaiian Airlines | 2.90 |
To determine which airports are most likely to lose and damage luggage, Forbes Advisor compared the nation’s 100 busiest airports across the following four metrics:
- Number of property damage claims per 100,000 domestic passengers: 30 percent of score
- Number of property loss claims per 100,000 domestic passengers: 30 percent of score
- Percentage of property damage claims reimbursed in full: 20 percent of score
- Percentage of property loss claims reimbursed in full: 20 percent of score
To determine which airlines are most likely to mishandle luggage, Forbes Advisor analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “Air Travel Consumer Reports” for the eight largest national airlines with available data and calculated the average number of bags mishandled per 1,000 enplaned over a 10-year period, from 2013 to 2022.
Source: Forbes Advisor
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