Once when I landed in Narita Tokyo an attendant was waiting for me outside the airplane, holding a sign with my name on. She told me that my suitcase had gone t

Once when I landed in Narita Tokyo an attendant was waiting for me outside the airplane, holding a sign with my name on. She told me that my suitcase had gone to the wrong airport, and after that she led me to a desk where I had to sign a form (they have to let customs go through the suitcase when it doesn't arrive with you), and to get my address so they could forward it when it arrived. But then again this was Asia, which, as the BBC article mentions, also has a lower rate of lost baggage. In any case, the situation is overall vastly better than when I was doing business travels all the time in the nineties. My suitcase would be missing at least 25% of the time. On some flights it was a certainty that it would be missing. Now it's pretty rare. Even on very short transfers due to delays. I've on a few occasions literally walked out one gate an run directly to another to catch the flight, and surprise, the case made it every time. Brought directly from one plane to another no doubt.