Experience and statistics of lost and found department at Košice airport: from safe time to pandemics

The main goal of this article is to present a case analysis for the selected three years for all airlines represented at Košice Airport, which focuses on the three most common cases, namely delayed bag – AHL, damaged bag - DPR and handbag - OHD. The main workplace at airports to solve these problems is the Lost and Found Department. The Baggage Claim Department or Lost and Found Department handle cases of lost, damaged, pilfered baggage or baggage sent to the wrong destination. This article discusses the statistics of the Lost and Found Department at Kosice Airport for a 3-years (2017, 2018, and 2019). The year 2020 was non-standard for passenger air transport and represented a decrease of 82% due to COVID-19, so it was not the subject of research. The Lost and Found Depart- ment at Kosice Airport uses the WorldTracer® system which is used by more than 2,800 airports and more than 500 airlines worldwide. According to the input data the system verifies other airports that created the case in the system and compares the basic factors of each case. Mandatory specifications include for example the bag tag number, passenger routing, luggage type, luggage color, and much more data the problem.