REVEALED: Airlines that lose the most luggage - and the worst offender is a premium operator

Travelers have to entrust airlines to handle their luggage, but many of America's top companies have managed to lose people's personal items on their journeys. 

According to data released in February by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Southwest Airlines came in at number one while American Airlines ranked second among companies that lose the most amount of luggage. 

Mishandled bags include those that were lost, delayed, damaged, or stolen. The data also showed the number of wheelchairs and scooters that were mishandled by some of the most well-known airlines. 

In 2023 alone, out of more than 470million bags enplaned, 2,697,057 were mishandled by airlines, according to the data. 

Out of 817,176 wheelchairs and scooters enplaned, 11,289 were mishandled, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation report. 

Southwest Airlines took the number one spot with 587,339 bags mishandled out of more than 129million that were loaded on in 2023. 

In second came American Airlines with 582,499 bags mishandled out of more than 71million. About 82 percent of bags per 100 enplaned were mishandled. 

United Airlines ranked in third place for the highest amount of mishandled bags, with 412,601 pieces of luggage affected out of more than 55million that were boarded onto an aircraft. 

In fourth place came Delta Airlines as 394,386 bags were mishandled out of more than 80million enplaned. That means that 49 percent of bags per 100 that boarded the aircrafts were lost, stolen from, damaged or delayed. 

Regional airline SkyWest came in fifth place with a reported 139,299 bags mishandled out of over 26million that made it onto planes. 

Alaska Airlines, the fifth-largest airline in North America, came in sixth place with 131,551 mishandled bags out of more than 22million enplaned last year. 

JetBlue came in seventh place with 79,957 mishandled pieces of luggage out of more than 15million enplaned. 

One of the well-known budget-friendly airlines, Spirit, ranked in eighth place with 68,006 mishandled bags reported out of nearly 13million enplaned. 

PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, came in eighth place with 63,756 mishandled bags out of a total of more than 10million. 

The airline operates a fleet of Bombardier regional jet aircrafts with a team of more than 4,600 team members who operate 500 daily flights to 100 destinations for American Airlines, according to its website. 

Envoy Airlines, the largest regional carrier for American Airlines, came in 10th place with 58,680 mishandled bags out of a total of more than 8million enplaned. 

'Airports are some of the busiest and most complex pieces of infrastructure with thousands if not tens of thousands of people flowing through them daily,' a spokesperson for MyBaggage.com told FOX Weather. 

Southwest Airlines not only came in first for having the most mishandled baggage in 2023, but also for mishandling scooters and wheelchairs. 

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation data, Southwest mishandled 3,460 mobility devices, while American Airlines mishandled 2,015 from January- December 2023. 

In 2022, about 26million pieces of luggage globally were lost, delayed or damaged- reaching an all time high in 10 years. 

Nearly eight bags in every 1,000 went missing between airport bag drops and the carousel at arrivals.

The number of bags that were delayed, lost or damaged jumped to 7.6 pieces of luggage per 1,000 passengers in 2022, according to research by baggage handling experts Sita.

This was the highest rate since 2012 when the figure was 26.3million – nearly nine pieces per 1,000 passengers. In 2019, before Covid, it was nearly six pieces per 1,000 passengers. 

Ryanair was the worst offender for lost or damaged luggage, according to figures covering 2018-2022 held by the Civil Aviation Authority. British Airways was second, followed by easyJet, Wizz Air and Norwegian.

Airlines must track every piece during its journey with a barcode, but millions of items continue to disappear. Many airports and airlines made staff cuts in the pandemic and have struggled to recruit quickly enough to cope with post-Covid travel surge. 

Airlines have 21 days to find and return missing luggage, at which point travelers are entitled to claim compensation. 

Recently, Kansai International Airport in Japan, was crowned the airport that hasn't lost a single piece of luggage in 30 years. 

The airport has a specific system in place to ensure that every piece of baggage reaches its owner undamaged, with employees working in teams of two or three to limit the number of hands the suitcases go through and taking extra care to make sure the items aren't damaged.