The case of 26 million missing pieces of baggage

Passengers at an airport in Chicago look at a carousel with baggage from 25 delayed flights. Photo: TheeErin / Flickr

When you drop off your baggage at the check-in counter, it sets off a modern Rube Goldberg-like system to keep your stuff on track. Bags are sent along conveyors, scanned, sorted and carried by humans to the right plane. Yet a recent article stated that 26 million checked bags go missing every year.

The story interviews several airline industry veterans, each giving conflicting pieces of advice.  If you check in too late, your bags might not be loaded onto the plane in time. If you check in too early, the plane might not be ready yet. So your bags could be set aside and forgotten.

Have you ever lost luggage on an airline? What did you do? Please share your stories in the comments.