British Airways loses more bags and operates more delayed flights than any other big airline in Europe, a study has found.

Nine passengers on a typical BA jumbo jet find that their bags are missing when they arrive at their destination. BA’s performance worsened last year, with 26.5 bags lost per 1,000 passengers, compared with 23 in 2006.

The airline was 50 per cent more likely to lose a bag than the average European airline, which mislaid 16.6 bags per 1,000 passengers. Only Air Portugal, which is less than a fifth of the size of BA, lost a higher proportion of bags.

BA also had one of the worst records for punctuality, with more than a third of short-haul and medium-haul flights and almost half of long-haul arriving at least 15 minutes late last year. More than 15 million BA passengers were delayed.

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BACKGROUND

• Chaos over baggage rule change

• BA admits baggage charges 'too high'

• Monarch joins the charging crowd

• Insurance claims for lost luggage up by 40%

• Lost luggage auctions: where to find your bag

Related Links

• BA raises longhaul fuel surcharges 10% to £128

The study was carried out by the Association of European Airlines, which also found that Heathrow had the highest level of delays of any airport for flights within Europe, with 35.5 per cent delayed last year. Gatwick was second-worst, with 30.2 per cent. The best was Brussels, with 16.9 per cent.

The association represents most of the larger airlines but not budget operators, such as Ryanair and easyJet. Budget airlines tend to lose fewer bags than traditional carriers, such as BA, because they do not offer connecting services through hub airports.

The research found that 61 per cent of lost bags went missing when passengers were transferring between flights. Most of the bags were restored to their owners within two days, but one in 2,000 was lost permanently.

The Air Transport Users Council, the official passenger watchdog, said that BA’s poor performance last year was explained in part by the rule limiting passengers to one piece of hand luggage. This rule, which was lifted at most airports last month, resulted in more bags being checked in and baggage systems becoming overloaded.

But James Fremantle, the council’s industry affairs manager, said that BA needed to take responsibility for its performance. “They can’t blame it all on external circumstances,” he said. “Complaints we receive show that delayed bags cause passengers stress, inconvenience and expense.”

The council called on airlines to be clearer about what people could claim if their bags were delayed. Airlines typically offer about £25 for each day a bag is missing, but passengers may also be able to request reasonable expenses, such as clothes and toiletries.

However, there are no clear rules on what airlines must pay beyond an international law limiting their liability to £800 per passenger.

Mr Fremantle said: “Some people spend £500 and are then upset to find that the airline won’t pay it. But others spend only a few pounds because they are worried that the airline won’t reimburse them.

“The best thing is to ask the airline what you are entitled to as soon as you find out your bag is missing.”

A BA spokesman said: “While our performance at the vast majority of global airports remains good, we continue to experience a wide variety of difficulties at our main home at Heathrow.

“Although Heathrow continues to suffer from a very stretched infra-structure running at almost double capacity, we also accept that on occasions our own levels of service have not been as high as we would like.

“We very much expect that our baggage performance will improve once we settle into our new home at Heathrow Terminal 5, which opens at the end of March.”

The council called on the European Commission to publish tables on lost bags for all airlines in Europe. Some operators, including Virgin Atlantic, refuse to supply figures to the association. The council said: “Name-and-shame league tables [would] encourage all airlines to invest in measures to improve their baggage handling.”

Emirates airline began trials this month at Heathrow of baggage tags that contain microchips and are much less likely to be misread than traditional barcode tags.

Cheating the carousel

— Keep essentials in your hand luggage if you do not want to risk a disastrous holiday start

— On business trips, never pack essentials in the hold, or you could could end up forking out a small fortune for new clothes

— Most airlines have hand-luggage limits of about 23kg (50lb), but you can put books or heavy items in pockets to avoid the weigh-in. Or buy books and toiletries “airside” – but beware of prices

— People without checked-in bags need to think small: some companies have begun selling washbags that perfectly fit the 100ml liquid containers allowed in cabins. And while laptops are getting tinier, how about packing your memory stick instead?