Emirates’ baggage handling success goes from strength to strength

With global travel at an all-time high, Emirates has confirmed its busiest year for baggage handling yet. Between April 2024 and March 2025, Emirates has handled more than 2.8 million bags each month, averaging at 100,000 per day, from Dubai to 140 global destinations. These figures mark a 3.7% increase in total bags on last year. Despite its complex operation, Emirates has maintained a 99.9% baggage handling success rate from its Dubai hub.

Emirates’ excellent statistical record for baggage handling places it as the top performing airline worldwide. 99.9% of all baggage coming from Dubai or transferring through reaches its owner on time, at the correct destination. Emirates rate of ‘baggage mishandling’ which can be defined as ‘delayed, lost or misplaced baggage,’ is minimal at 1.4 in a 1000 at the Dubai hub - almost 30 times lower than some other providers.

On a global level, when Emirates customers bags are unavoidably delayed - 91% are reunited with their owners within 72 hours. Internationally, this rate is notable because Emirates mainly manages international baggage and international transfer baggage, so the luggage goes on long and complex journeys that require a significantly higher level of attention than domestic travel.

Lost and Found is another area where Emirates excels, with 94% of valuable items proactively recovered and returned to customers in Dubai within 60 minutes, thanks to a dedicated team. These items are found either on Emirates aircraft and at Emirates hub in Dubai International (DXB) Terminal 3 and are marked as ‘valuable’ because they are essential items for Emirates customers travel experience – passports, wallets and phones.

Latest developments for Emirates Baggage Handling

In 2024, the airline introduced Emirates Bag Connect, a tool that is available to customers on the Emirates app and website, and offers a comprehensive view of the baggage journey with timely baggage status tracking.  An additional feature was also introduced to allow customers to track mishandled bag delivery and this service is now available at 80 stations across Emirates’ network.

In Emirates Dubai hub, from 2.8 million bags handled monthly, an average of 2300 bags are found without baggage tags. Emirates and dnata teams work together to proactively track the owner and an average of 80% of these bags are recovered and loaded onto the aircraft before the departure of the flight, ensuring no disruption to the customer.

On the rare occasion that baggage is delayed, an array of scenarios may have occurred. Sometimes baggage tags are accidentally torn off, or occasionally a bag could fall off the underground baggage belt as its rounds a corner. A transfer flight may be unavoidably delayed due to weather or a sick passenger, making it impossible to remove and reload the bag onto the passenger’s transfer flight in time. In this case, the customers bag is immediately loaded onto the next flight. This is done automatically by a combination of complex systems;  Baggage Handling System by Dubai Airport, Baggage Reconciliation System by dnata, and Emirates Bag Connect.

Emirates best in class systems and procedures

Emirates attributes its best-in-class baggage handling to robust systems and high-tech procedures including a multimillion-dollar investment into software that Emirates has tailored to specific needs, providing full visibility of entire journeys. On an average Emirates journey from Dubai, a customer’s luggage goes on a trip of its own, interacting with many of Emirates team. Steps can include a porter’s trolley to a check-in agent and baggage belt, to the ‘Boss Room’ where baggage is scanned with high tech security, to being loaded into dnata baggage containers and onto the moveable dollies bound for Emirates aircraft, before it travels across the world, to meet the baggage handlers at a new destination.

Emirates commitment to innovation and excellence ensures that all systems and operations have been consistently improved over the last two decades by a world class team. Emirates’ team is also regularly trained to the highest standards both in Dubai and across the globe, with ground handlers and other operational staff participating in virtual and manual trainings on systems, processes, standards and best practices, as well as introductions to new products and services. As the world’s largest international airline, flying to 140 destinations from one of world’s busiest airports, seamless collaboration between Emirates, dnata and Dubai Airports ensures that Emirates’ customers and their luggage ‘fly better’.