American Airlines Might Finally Be Losing Less Checked Bags Than Before But, Well, It’s Still Worse Than Any Other Major Carrier

American Airlines has a problem. Okay, the Fort Worth-based carrier arguably has lots of problems, but it might finally be getting on top of one its many troubles with the airline reporting that it has significantly reduced the number of checked-in bags it is losing.

In an internal memo seen by aviation insider xJonNYC on Bluesky and X, the airline told staffers on Friday it had lowered its mishandled baggage rate (the official term for when an airline loses or temporarily misplaces your luggage) by 29% year over year in the first quarter of 2025.

That’s unquestionably good news but it does come with one majo caveat… American Airlines the worst carrier of any major airline in the United States when it comes to mishandling luggage that passenger’s have put their trust in AA looking after the delivering it ontime where it was meant to arrive.

According to the latest statistics published by the Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection in its regular air travel consumer report, American Airlines mishandled 84,362 bags in December 2024 – the latest period for which the DOT has figures.

Understandably, an airline the size of American Airlines is probably going to have a higher number of mishandled numner of bags compared to smaller carriers like JetBlue or Alaska Airlines so that’s why the DOT works out its ranking based on the number of mishandled bags per 100 bags enplaned.

In December 2024, American Airlines had a mishandled rate of 0.83 compared to 0.41 for JetBlue and 0.51 for Alaska Airlines.

When comparing American Airlines to similar sized rivals, the stats are still nearly just as bad. Delta had a total mishandled rate of 0.50 in December 2024 while United appears to be struggling with a mishandled rate of 0.79.

American Airlines, along with its two wholly owned regional subsideraries, Envoy and PSA, sat at the very bottom on the ranking for airline mishandling rates.

Unfortunately, it’s not just luggage that American Airlines has built an uneveniable reputation of mishandling. Last October, the DOT slapped the carrier with a record $50 million fine for mishandling wheelchairs and mobility aids with the Biden administration saying the airline had been found guilty of “numerous serious violations of the laws protecting airline passengers with disabilities.”

The record fine was 25 times larger than the DOT’s previous biggest penalty imposed on a carrier for violating disability rights laws. American Airlines was, however, only required to pay half of the $50 million penalty, with $25 million credited for investments that American Airlines had already made to improve its service for disabled passengers.

Despite the investments, the mishandling rate for wheelchairs at American Airlines remains stubbornly high. In December 2024, the carrier mishandled 1.48 wheelchairs per 100 enplaned. Only Frontier and JetBlue performed worse, while Delta boasted a mishandling rate of 0.67.