Airline Luggage Reliability: 2025’s Top 10 US Rankings by AirAdvisor

Amy Lancelotte

By:  Amy Lancelotte

10 minutes read

Last Updated:  27 November 2025

Our luggage is precious. And when we entrust it to an airline, we expect to get it back and in one piece. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. 

The team at AirAdvisor undertook a study of five different criteria to determine once and for all which US airlines are the most reliable with your luggage. For the USA’s 10 most popular airlines, our data includes weighted scores for:

• The number of mishandled bags per 1,000 bags enplaned (50%)
• The mishandled bag year-on-year improvement (15%)
• How the airline handles luggage claim resolution (10%)
• The airline’s lost luggage transparency and tracking tools (10%)
• Baggage-specific reviews for customer reputation (15%)

Now, let’s see how these 10 US major carriers stack up against each other for baggage.

#1 jetBlue Airways – The Most Reliable US Airline for Your Bags

No matter how we look at the numbers, jetBlue is the top airline for luggage. It tops the list whether we use a weighted average or not. So, the results are definitive. 

The airline is second-best in luggage handling, where an average of 3.4 bags out of every 1,000 experience an issue, and year-on-year improvement. As for the reviews relating to luggage, jetBlue is second there, and also shares the top spot for transparency and live tracking.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 3.4
Improvement: 30.61%
Estimated claim resolution time: 3 months
Live baggage tracking: yes
Average luggage-based review score: 3.9/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 7.4

#2 Allegiant Air

Allegiant is secure in the second spot with impressive scores. Entrusting your luggage to this discount airline shouldn’t make you anxious. By a wide margin, Allegiant’s scores for checked luggage are the best – just 1.5 out of 1,000 bags are mishandled.

It’s also good news that the year-on-year trend shows the highest improvement at 42.31%. Passengers can hopefully expect even better results next year.

Where the scores falter is with luggage tracking. They don’t allow passengers to follow the progress of their bags, and do not publish a baggage claim resolution timeframe. Plus, based on our data, Allegiant is the most difficult US airline when lost luggage claims are required.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 1.5
Improvement: 42.31%
Estimated claim resolution time: not specified
Live baggage tracking: no
Average luggage-based review score: 3.7/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 7

#3 Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian Airlines lands in the third spot for better-than-average scores for mishandled luggage, baggage-based reviews, and bag handling improvement. 

In our experience, Hawaiian is one of the more challenging airlines to deal with when you need to claim. Luckily, handling improved by almost 25% year-on-year, so fewer claims are necessary.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 3.7
Improvement: 24.49%
Estimated claim resolution time: not specified
Live baggage tracking: no, but they do have a cargo tracking tool
Average luggage-based review score: 3.5/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 6.1

#4 Southwest Airlines

With real-time baggage tracking and a clearly stated lost luggage policy, Southwest is among the top US airlines for transparency. And although Southwest Airlines has one of the lower handling improvements, that still means your bags are more than 11% less likely to have an issue compared to last year.

Our clients rate Southwest’s baggage handling experience better than reviews on Skytrax. With Skytrax, the average is 3.5/5, whereas our review data shows it’s actually around 3.9/5, tied for the second-highest with jetBlue.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 4
Improvement: 11.11%
Estimated claim resolution time: 3 months
Live baggage tracking: yes
Average luggage-based review score: 3.5/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 6

#5 Frontier Airlines 

You may be a little surprised to find out that Frontier Airlines rounds out the top 5 of the best airlines in the USA for baggage. Just because the fares are low doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a poor luggage experience.

On average, 4 out of 1,000 bags checked with Frontier run into a problem – fourth place overall. Frontier has also shown a significant improvement at 24.53%, enough to earn third place in this category.

But the airline lets us down with the second-worst review scores and is the absolute worst for resolving baggage claims.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 4
Improvement: 24.53%
Estimated claim resolution time: not specified
Live baggage tracking: no
Average luggage-based review score: 3.35/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 5.1

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#6 Delta Air Lines 

With both our internal luggage handling review data and the average of reviews from Skytrax and e-Sky, Delta is the best-rated US airline. In general, the airline aims to resolve claims quickly, with a low resolution time. Plus, our team finds them the easiest and most responsive US airline to work with for claims. 

Delta shows the most concerning trend for baggage handling. For the 2023-2024 data, 4.4 bags out of 1,000 were mishandled, but for 2024-2025, it’s 4.6. That’s 4.55% worse.

It’s a shame that Delta doesn’t score better, because outside of luggage issues, they are the winner for the best US airline in 2025.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 4.6
Improvement: -4.55%
Estimated claim resolution time: 1.5 months
Live baggage tracking: yes
Average luggage-based review score: 4.1/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 4.8

#7 United Airlines

United advertises the best luggage claim resolution time, which is one month, and after Delta, they’re the second-best airline to work with for claims. 

United Airlines earns solid scores for transparency, but other than the positive baggage claim experience and an improvement year-over-year, the luggage handling is not ideal. 

During the previous period (June 2023 to June 2024), the mishandled bag rate was 7.1/1,000. Now, it’s gone down to 6.4, which certainly sounds better, but let’s put that in perspective. With Allegiant’s rate of 1.5 bags per 1,000 enplaned, your luggage is over 4 times more likely to have an issue with United.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 6.4
Improvement: 9.86%
Estimated claim resolution time: 1 month
Live baggage tracking: yes
Average luggage-based review score: 3.45/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 3.7

#8 Alaska Airlines 

The transparency with Alaska Airlines is good – they both publish a clear lost luggage policy and offer baggage tracking, though passengers report that the real-time system is “buggy.”

With Alaska Airlines (unlike Delta), we can at least say there is an improvement with baggage handling, although it’s marginal at 1.72%.

Our client reviews and the combined scores of Skytrax and e-Sky agree exactly for Alaska Airlines – both are 3.5/5, which is enough to make the airline average or better.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 5.7
Improvement: 1.72%
Estimated claim resolution time: 3 months
Live baggage tracking: yes
Average luggage-based review score: 3.5/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 3.3

#9 Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines isn’t the worst carrier you can choose for luggage handling, but it’s close. In fact, with a rate of 4.7/1,000 mishandled bags, Spirit is actually better than Alaska and United. They also showed a small improvement of 2.08%, better than Alaska Airlines and Delta. But the good news ends there.

Spirit’s luggage handling is the worst-rated by passengers, there is no live bag tracking, and only Frontier is worse in our experience for claims.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 4.7
Improvement: 2.08%
Estimated claim resolution time: not specified
Live baggage tracking: no
Average luggage-based review score: 3/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 3.2

#10 American Airlines – The Worst US Airline for Baggage

It’s alarming that the USA’s largest airline is the worst at handling your bags. American Airlines has the highest mishandled bag rate, and the trend isn’t good. The carrier experienced a 1.33% decline year-over-year. The only airline with a worse checked bag handling percentage is Delta.

Overall, American is relatively good at resolving luggage claims, and the airline’s reviews are average at 3.5/5. Although our internal American Airlines reviews put that closer to 3.3.

Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned: 7.6
Improvement: -1.33%
Estimated claim resolution time: 2 months
Live baggage tracking: yes
Average luggage-based review score: 3.5/5

AirAdvisor weighted score: 2.5

Practical Tips to Prevent and Manage Mishandled Luggage

• Check in early – Last-minute checked bags are more likely to be mishandled.
• Label and take pics – In the case of lost luggage, it’s crucial to have your bags labeled with your name and contact info, and having a photo makes them easier to locate.
• Keep valuables with you – To be on the safe side, always travel with important things in carry-on bags. This includes everything from medication and a change of clothes to documents and sentimental items.
• Remove old tags – To avoid confusion, remove any luggage tags from previous flights before checking in.
• Track, track, track – If the airline offers real-time bag tracking, take advantage. At the very least, you’ll know sooner if something has happened and can act accordingly.

Data for the Baggage Reliability Top 10 List

Luggage Reliability Methodology

These are the five categories involved in our top 10 baggage reliability list and how points were calculated for each:

• Mishandled bags per 1,000 enplaned – We used data from the Department of Transportation (DOT) from June 2024 to June 2025. These rates include luggage that’s lost, delayed, damaged, or pilfered. The lower the number, the higher the points.
• Mishandled bags year-on-year changes – Using the same DOT information, we compared the mishandled rate from June 2023 to June 2024 to the data mentioned above. The highest improvements earned the highest points.
• Baggage claim resolution – We used three metrics here: the ease of baggage compensation from AirAdvisor’s own claim data, the estimated luggage claim resolution time, and the airline’s luggage handling, also from our internal review data. We then weighted each to get the final score:
• 40% for ease of claiming
• 30% for speed of handling
• 30% for luggage handling reviews

• Luggage transparency – For this one, we have yes or no answers. We asked two questions: is live bag tracking available, and is there a clearly stated lost luggage policy? Yes awards a point, no does not.
• Customer reputation – To assess how airlines are viewed by real passengers, we filtered reviews from Skytrax and e-sky that mention luggage-related issues. Review scores were averaged out for a final total, where a higher score means a better rank.

We also applied a neutrality index of 0.5 in rare cases where the data was not available. The airline was neither rewarded nor penalized.

Our Weighted Average

Recognizing that the goal is not to delay, lose, or damage your bag in the first place, we assigned a specific weight to each factor. Bags mishandled per 1,000 enplaned stood out and therefore carries the most weight in our ranking:

• Baggage mishandling = 50%
• Year-on-year improvement = 15%
• Claim resolution = 10%
• Transparency = 10%
• Customer reputation = 15%

The Bottom Line on US Airline Luggage Reliability

With checked baggage, a lot of it comes down to luck. But when you’re carrying something sentimental, valuable, or important, Allegiant Air and jetBlue are the best bets. Alternatively, if you value quick claim turnaround times and transparency, Delta and United are good options.

Above all, don’t let this throw you off flying anywhere. In reality, your odds of having a luggage issue with any of these USA-based airlines are quite small at less than 10 out of 1,000 (1%).

You’ve spent days tracking your baggage, but you can start your compensation claim in just a few easy stepsGet the compensation you’re owed.
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Author:

Amy Lancelotte

Job/Position: Senior Writer & Content Creator

Amy Lancelotte is a Senior Content Writer and editorial contributor at AirAdvisor with more than seven years of experience producing research-driven articles for global audiences. Her work focuses on travel, aviation, and air passenger rights, with an emphasis on factual accuracy, verified data, and clear, reader-first explanations.

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