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Travelling can be stressful enough without finding yourself at your holiday destination without your bags, and there’s hardly a plane passenger out there who hasn’t had to deal with the lost luggage nightmare at one time or another. But it turns out that Spain is the worst culprit, with the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport misplacing more suitcases than any other airport in Europe.

 

That’s according to a report by ‘Reclamio’, which found that Madrid Airport received 25.5% of the total lost luggage complaints in 2023. There’s more bad news for Spain though, as Barcelona El-Prat has the dubious honour of winning second place in the rankings, being responsible for 13.2% of Europe’s mishandling of suitcases.

 

Spain finally gets a break thanks to Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado airport, with 5.8%. Paris Orly is in fourth position with 2.7% of claims, and in fifth place is again a Spanish airport, Palma de Mallorca, with 2.4% of the complaints for lost luggage in 2023.

 

 

If your suitcase doesn’t arrive at the same time you do, it’s crucial that you file a lost luggage claim at the airline counter before leaving. You will need to complete a 'Baggage Irregularity Report' (PIR) and it is also advisable to submit a claim with the airline's Customer Service department.

 

The good news, according to Reclamio, is that the majority of misplaced suitcases are reunited with their owners, with an impressive 97% recovery rate within just two days. In cases where the luggage remains missing, compensation for the affected passenger may exceed 1,500 euros. Although losing luggage can be a terrible inconvenience, the high recovery rate should provide some relief to impacted travellers.

 

 

Image: Freepik