American Airlines Mishandles the Most Luggage

From 2021 to 2024 more than 7 million pieces of luggage were reported as mishandled, with American Airlines being the airline with the most luggage mishandled per every 1,000 pieces enplaned, according to research by MyBaggage.com based on the U.S. Department of Transport’s Air Travel Consumer Report.

Based on the research, analysts at MyBaggage.com found that more than 1.7 million reports were filed regarding the mishandling of luggage by American Airlines. When compared with how many bags it enplaned, this equates to 8.71 mishandles per 1,000 bags enplaned.

Coming in number two is regional carrier Envoy Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Airlines. This much smaller airline was reported to have mishandled 224,236 bags between 2021 and 2024, coming to about 8.25 per 1,000 bags enplaned.

Another regional airline hit the top five, with Republic Airways taking the number three spot. Republic was responsible for mishandling 194,189 pieces of luggage. For every 1,000 bags Republic enplaned, it mishandled 7.01 of them. 

The fifth-largest airline, serving the U.S. and Canada, Alaska Airlines comes in number four. With more than 60 million bags enplaned, 402,781 were mishandled – or 6.69 per 1,000 bags.

Coming in at number five is another legacy carrier. Between 2021 and 2024, United Airlines enplaned 144 million bags. Of these, 932,000 were reported mishandled, equating to 6.43 per 1,000 bags.

The remaining five airlines on the top 10 list are:

6. PSA Airlines (a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Airlines) – 6.06 mishandled bags for every 1,000 pieces enplaned.

7. JetBlue – 5.67 mishandled bags for every 1,000 enplaned.

8. SkyWest Airlines – 5.28 mishandled bags for every 1,000 enplaned.

9. Delta Air Lines – 5.10 mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned.

10. Spirit Airlines – 4.93 mishandled bags for every 1,000 enplaned.