Already more luggage lost at European airports than before the pandemic | VTM News

Monique Truyers went on holiday to Firenze at the beginning of this summer. She returned well and good, but not her luggage. The start of a whole hassle to get her stuff back. “A detailed description of the suitcase: brand, colour, value, weight”, Monique tells ‘VTM Nieuws’. “And then you have to fill out a list of 45 categories in detail to show what is in the suitcase.”

Monique is far from alone. At some European airports there are hallucinatory mountains of lost luggage. Several people within the aviation sector confirm to our editors that the problem is much bigger than it was before the pandemic. Although none of them want to say that in front of the camera.

“A large part of this is due to the staff shortage, both at check-in and baggage handling,” says Wouter Dewulf, aviation economist at the University of Antwerp. According to Dewulf, the baggage handling system is a very delicate network. “If a few grains of sand get in, the whole system will crash.”

The situation at Zaventem is all in all not too bad. People flying directly to the South shouldn’t worry too much. Remarkably, the problems are greatest in Europe’s largest airports. “Large airports such as Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London where the main focus is on transfer passengers,” says Dewulf. The luggage must then be transferred from one aircraft to another. “Often there is only an hour to an hour and a half. And if something goes wrong, the luggage is often not with you,” says Dewulf.

In contrast to delays, where there are clear rules regarding compensation, you have little chance of compensation in the event of lost luggage. In the vast majority of cases, your luggage will also end up again. Monique also saw her luggage eight days after she had landed.

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