AirAdvisor: The World’s Most Lawless Baggage Reclaims

Written By Joanna Teljeur

5 minutes read
Last Updated: April 26, 2025

After a long flight, you make your way through the airport to the baggage reclaim hall. You’re groggy, but you wait patiently for your luggage to be delivered on the carousel. You wait and wait and your suitcase never shows up. 

You decide to make a lost baggage report at the help desk, but the airline tells you that your belongings arrived on time. So, OK, then where is it? 

What comes as a surprise to most travellers is that the vast majority of baggage reclaim areas are not monitored and are completely open to the public. That’s right. You don’t need to show ID or your boarding pass. Basically, it comes down to the honor system, so your luggage is just there for the taking. 

So, what do you do when you have to travel with a checked bag? And how can you be sure someone won’t just walk off with it before you get to the reclaim area? To help answer these questions, AirAdvisor reviewed 53 airports around the world to reveal the ones where your baggage is most vulnerable to theft. 

We scoured each airport for:

• Passenger volume
• Google ratings and Yelp reviews 
•  Lost luggage searches in the airport vicinity
• Average walking time from the gate to baggage claim 

As it turns out, the bigger and busier the airport, the more likely you are to have your luggage stolen. 

Baggage Reclaims with the Highest Theft Risk in the World

#1 London Heathrow (LHR)

While LHR might not be as big as other airports, in terms of actual size or passenger volume, they outrank all the others for the number of Google searches for lost luggage. To put this in perspective, LHR had 14,840 more Google searches on the subject than Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), which had the second most in the survey.

Was your baggage lost or stolen at the airport, causing you to miss a connecting flight? You could be eligible for compensation. 

Check Your Flight

#2 Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)

Of all 53 airports, Paris (CDG) had 44 unfavourable Yelp reviews, the most in the survey. Not only that, but it takes 26 minutes to walk through the airport to the baggage reclaim area, making it the longest in the group. If you couple this with the fact that their annual passenger volume is 4th largest of the airports studied, you can see how lawless their baggage hall is in reality. 

#3 Dubai International Airport (DXB)

Dubai International had the highest passenger volume of any airport in our survey. So, while it had over 5,000 Google searches for lost luggage and 37 poor Yelp reviews, DXB also has upward of 92 thousand passengers passing through its gates each year. 

Still, with a 20 minute hike through the airport to the baggage reclaim area, thieves have ample time to take off with your belongings. 

The World’s Safest Baggage Reclaim Airports

Offsetting the baggage dangers presented in busier hubs, these airports paint a rosier picture for luggage safety. All three of the safest airport reclaim areas have very few Google searches for lost bags and negative Yelp reviews. Plus, they require only a short walk from the gate. Let’s take a look.

#1 Australia’s Darwin International Airport / RAAF Darwin (DRW)

DRW is the second smallest airport in the survey, and they have just one negative review on Yelp - less than any other airport. Their Google rating, at 4.6, is the highest, and their reclaim area is a quick 5 minute walk from the gate. You can’t get much safer than that! 

#2 Cardiff Airport (CWL) in Wales

As the smallest airport, in terms of passenger volume, Cardiff Airport had just 4 negative Yelp reviews and one of the higher Google ratings. Interestingly, their Google searches for lost luggage is relatively high, but with a 5 minute walk to the reclaim area, CWL has one of the safest airports for baggage in the world. 

#3 Tijuana International Airport / General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport (TIJ)

Given the size of its annual passenger volume, TIJ still managed to have only 7 negative Yelp reviews and just 950 searches for lost luggage. Pretty impressive! Plus, it just takes 7 minutes to get to the baggage reclaim area from the gate. No wonder their Google rating is so high. 

Table

Use the Following Code to Embed Our Data on Your Website

<div class="flourish-embed flourish-table" data-src="visualisation/22285749"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script><noscript><img src="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22285749/thumbnail" width="100%" alt="table visualization" /></noscript></div>

Methodology

To discover the most lawless baggage claims in the world, we gathered overall Google ratings data for each airport, total passenger figures, local searches for lost luggage, negative Yelp reviews, and the average walk time from the gate to the baggage reclaim. Then, we created a weighted index to reveal at which airport you're most likely to have your bag stolen.

If you are traveling in the UK or EU and experience a flight delay or cancellation, you may be eligible for up to £520 (€600) in compensation, depending on your circumstances. Contact us or find out how much you can claim.

Stay Alert and Keep Your Bags Safe

As you can see, the busier airports pose the greatest threat to your baggage safety. Larger airports like London Heathrow and Paris CDG have more travellers at any given time. Also, the sheer size of these hubs makes for a longer trek to the baggage carousels, giving thieves a better chance to grab your bags. To protect your belongings, try to avoid checking your luggage if you’re flying through bigger and busier airports.

No feedback