TAP Portugal loses most luggage

TAP, Portugal’s national airline, received an unenviable distinction earlier today. According to a study conducted by the Air Transport Users’ Council, TAP was more likely to lose passenger luggage than any other airline in Europe. The study revealed that in 2007, out of every 1,000 checked bags that TAP handled, the carrier misplaced 27.8 pieces of luggage. In most cases, these bags were eventually traced, but the thousands of passengers who found themselves parted from their belongings had to endure inconvenient delays.

While TAP appears to have performed the worst when it comes to handling luggage, the United Kingdom’s national airline has no reason to boast either. British Airways was the second worst at keeping track of passenger luggage and avoiding delays; for every 1,000 bags, BA misplaced 25.6. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines did not fare much better with 19.7 lost bags for every 1,000 pieces of luggage. KLM effectively found itself tied with Alitalia, while Air France’s ratio of delayed bags stood at 17.6. British Midland (BMI) performed only slightly better than these larger carriers. BMI’s ratio of lost luggage was 17 out of 1,000.

Industry analysts believe that the reason why many of Europe’s largest carriers seem to have performed more poorly than smaller airlines is because more passengers use them to make connections. Whenever bags have to be transferred from one flight to another, there is a greater risk that an error will occur in the handling process. BA, for example, is very popular with North American passengers who use it to fly to Heathrow Airport, from where they often continue their journeys to continental European destinations.

In contrast to TAP, BA, KLM and Air France, Air Malta earned exceptional marks when it came to its baggage handling performance.

www.flytap.com