Despite huge efforts made by airlines and transportation authorities to minimise lost luggage incidents, 36 million pieces of luggage were lost, delayed or damaged in 2024.

From that total, 80% were delayed, 13% mishandled, while 7% were lost forever, making up over 2.5 million suitcase, luggage or travel items that will never be reunited with their rightful owner.

Broken down by region, Europe was most likely to mishandle a passenger’s suitcase, with a rate of 15.7 bags per 1000 passengers, doubling the rate it was in 2023.

Part of the problem is that airports and airlines still have fewer staff to handle an increase in travellers, after laying off thousands when the COVID pandemic brought the travel sector to its knees.

QRtrav was created to help reduce lost luggage issues for international travellers by offering a free QR code tagging solution for suitcases and personal items.

We provide a free online service where you can easily register and manage your account details and print your unique QR code that links to your own unique QRtrav profile ID for smarter travel security. 

By scanning the QR code attached to luggage or personal items, a third party user can quickly access the relevant information and verify its authenticity.

In addition to our free service, we offer users a low cost option where you can buy and download a digital premium label, which also displays a custom background and your unique profile ID number.

Luggage is more likely to be lost if the journey has several legs, as each transfer between different vehicles increases the chance that suitcases or travel bags will be mishandled.

There are many causes of lost luggage. If a passenger arrives late for a flight, there may not be time for their luggage to be loaded onto the plane.

With traditional luggage tags, if they are accidentally torn off, the airport may not know where to send the luggage. Human error is also common: tags may be misread.

With QR codes, a reading cannot return you wrong values. Also, you can change your address details online, a smarter, timesaving system!

QR codes are very reliable, once your unique QR code is generated, printed and tested it will not lose the data it holds (which links your unique ID page to the QR code).

Our QR codes have a high error correction level built in, which helps ensure a probability of the QR code still being readable even after potential damage.

Behold the latest innovation in smart technology to reduce lost luggage. You can create a free account with QRtrav and add an extra level of security when travelling abroad!

Create a free account