Free Republic

Since Aug. 10, when a ban on most carry-on liquids sent the amount of checked luggage soaring, airlines have been misplacing many more bags, and the fumbling could well escalate during the busy holiday travel season. The Transportation Department reported that 107,731 more fliers had their bags go missing in August than they did a year earlier, a 33 percent increase. It got worse in September, with 183,234 more passengers suffering mishandled bags than a year earlier, up 92 percent. Globally, about 30 million bags are mishandled each year, according to SITA, a company that sells software to airlines and...

It's probably happened to all of us at some point. Getting off the plane, heading to baggage claim, waiting and waiting and waiting for your luggage to come around. Eventually you realize your luggage just isn't coming. On Friday, the government released the latest lost luggage statistics. The report found that in 2005, every single day there were 10,000 reports of lost baggage. The worst offender is Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operates Delta Connection. They lost 17.4 bags for every 1000. Among the major carriers, US Airways, which also operates America West, didn't do well either. It lost 9.62 bags...