How to avoid lost luggage Baggage handling

Ever wondered what happens to your luggage at an airport? We ventured behind the scenes at London Heathrow to see how it all works.

How luggage is handled

Heathrow is one of the airports operated by BAA, which ensures the handling systems – conveyors, chutes and equipment – are up to the job and working properly. But its staff don't handle luggage between check-in and aircraft – that's the responsibility of airline staff or their handling agents.

• At the check-in desk, the airline is responsible for weighing and labelling your luggage with a barcode or 'licence plate number' linking it to you and your flight.
• BAA then takes charge as bags descend into the depths of the airport to be x-rayed by a security scanner. If the scanner sees something it doesn't like in your bag (electrical equipment and aerosols are usual suspects), it will be pulled aside for closer scrutiny by security staff, and may miss the flight.
• After the all-clear from security, bags are pushed into the correct chutes and loaded by handlers into hold containers. Bags should be delivered from check-in to chutes in under 15 minutes.
• An electronic reconciliation system ensures that no luggage travels unaccompanied by its owner – if you fail to show up at the departure gate on time, your bags will be taken off.
• Airlines should have bags unloaded within 25 minutes of the aircraft's final parking stand. With time targets to meet, handlers are not gentle, so get a strong bag, and don't overpack as your bag is more likely to burst.
• Handlers transfer bags onto conveyors and chutes, where it should pop out within 30 minutes.

Why luggage goes missing

Statistics show around nine passengers on a British Airways 747 will be left standing at the carousel for luggage that won't turn up.

Genuinely lost luggage that disappears never to be seen again is actually quite rare. Most bags that fail to turn up are – to use the airlines' word – 'mishandled'. The Association of European Airlines (AEA) reports that 85% of lost bags are quickly traced and reunited with their owners within a day or two.

But that's no comfort to the millions of passengers whose luggage goes astray, causing stress and hassle that ruins a holiday or business trip. Increased security is partly to blame. Since restrictions reduced cabin luggage allowance to just one bag on many airlines, the amount of bags destined for the hold has increased. And more luggage checked in to the hold means more potential for it going astray, and more pressure on a system that can'[t cope – 68 million passengers pass through Heathrow annually, for example, but the terminals were only designed to handle between 40 and 45 million.

Worst offenders

A report by the House of Commons Transport Committee criticised airlines and airports for their poor performance over lost and mishandled bags – one of the biggest areas of complaint for air passengers.

There is currently no Europe-wide standard for collecting figures on lost and mishandled baggage. Which? Travel would like to see league tables published to show which airlines are the worst offenders and pressure them to up their game.