Which Airlines Are Losing Your Luggage the Most?

Few things sour a trip faster than arriving at your destination without your bags. According to the latest U.S. Department of Transportation and Bureau of Transportation Statistics data covering 2025, some airlines are far more likely to lose, delay, or damage your luggage than others. Here is how the major U.S. carriers stack up.

Two Ways to Measure the Problem

There are two ways to rank baggage mishandling, and they tell different stories. Raw totals naturally make the largest airlines look worst, since they simply handle far more bags. The fairer comparison is the rate — mishandled bags per 100,000 passengers, or per 100 or 1,000 bags checked — which levels the playing field between large and small carriers. For context, "mishandled baggage" includes luggage that is lost, delayed, damaged, or pilfered in transit.

The Worst by Raw Numbers

American Airlines mishandled the most bags overall in 2025, with 489,612 reported, the highest total among carriers analysed. As the largest U.S. airline, it emplaned more bags domestically than any competitor, over 110 million, so a high raw total is somewhat expected. Even so, by some measures American mishandled more than 720,000 of those bags, underscoring the scale of the issue at the country's biggest carrier.

The Worst by Rate

●    American Airlines: the worst rate among major carriers at 293 mishandled bags per 100,000 passengers. When its regional subsidiaries PSA Airlines and Envoy Air are included, American ranks as the worst-performing major airline overall for mishandled luggage.
●    United Airlines: the DOT's February 2026 report ranked American worst, followed by United and Envoy Air. However, once branded codeshare and regional partner numbers are folded in, the United network ranked as the worst-performing baggage-handling carrier in 2025. Separate BTS data also points to United as the airline most likely to misplace a checked bag.
●    Delta Air Lines: reported 364,329 mishandled bags, a rate of 219 per 100,000 passengers. While still a large number, Delta landed at the bottom of the top-10 worst list, making it the best performer among the major legacy carriers on this measure.
The Best Performers
●    Allegiant Air: the lowest mishandled rate overall at just 0.24 bags per 100 enplaned bags, though notably its rate surged 46.2% year-over-year, the exception to an otherwise improving industry trend.
●    JetBlue Airways: among the best at around 0.36 bags per 100 enplaned bags (roughly 5.3 per 1,000), mishandling only about 43,000 of the 13.7 million bags it checked.
●    Hawaiian Airlines: sat at around 6.88 mishandled bags per 1,000, a solid mid-table performance.

The Good News, and a Practical Tip

Despite the headline numbers, there is reason for optimism: most airlines saw year-over-year declines in their mishandled baggage rates in 2025, suggesting baggage handling is broadly improving across the industry. For travellers who want extra peace of mind, a widely echoed tip is to toss an Apple AirTag or similar Bluetooth tracker into your checked bag so you can monitor its location yourself throughout the journey.

Note: These rankings are based on U.S. Department of Transportation and Bureau of Transportation Statistics data and cover U.S. carriers. International airlines are measured separately under a global industry benchmark and are not directly comparable to these figures.