There are few holiday moments more frustrating than standing beside an empty baggage carousel while everyone else wheels their suitcase towards the exit. The conveyor belt slows to a stop, the lights switch off and the uncomfortable thought begins to creep in: where is my luggage?

While airlines successfully transport millions of bags every year, some airports are far more likely than others to leave passengers filing lost baggage reports instead of heading straight to the beach or hotel.

The airports dominating the list

The top of the this years ranking looks very different from previous years, with Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) taking the unwanted title of the airport where passengers are most likely to experience lost luggage problems. According to Airspace Times’ latest analysis, travellers using Sea-Tac face an estimated 1 in 33 chance of their baggage going missing, giving it a lost luggage rate of 3.06 per cent. 

The list also highlights major international airports around the world where baggage handling remains a challenge. Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi ranks second, with a reported 1 in 68 chance of luggage problems, followed by Brussels Airport, where the risk stands at approximately 1 in 80 travellers. 

Completing the top five are Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai and London Stansted Airport, with luggage issues affecting around 1 in 85 and 1 in 98 passengers respectively. 

Other major airports appearing in the ranking include Toronto Pearson International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, London Heathrow, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol. 

European travellers may be surprised to see some familiar names much lower down the list. Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, ranks eighth, while Amsterdam Schiphol appears in tenth place. Meanwhile, Barcelona-El Prat Airport ranks 23rd globally, with an estimated baggage problem rate of around 1 in 855 passengers.

Bigger airports, bigger challenges

Before anyone swears off flying through Heathrow or Barcelona, it’s worth remembering that the rankings don’t necessarily mean these airports lose the highest percentage of luggage. Instead, they process enormous numbers of passengers every day, meaning even a relatively small error rate can result in thousands of delayed bags over the course of a year.

Every suitcase passes through a remarkably complex journey involving check-in systems, automated conveyor belts, baggage scanners, sorting facilities, loading teams and connecting flights. If one part of that chain is delayed, particularly during tight flight connections, luggage can easily miss the aircraft even when its owner does not. Peak holiday periods only add to the pressure, with airports handling record numbers of travellers during the summer months.

Most bags aren’t lost forever

Despite the horror stories shared on social media, permanently lost luggage is actually much rarer than many travellers imagine. Industry figures show that most baggage problems involve delays rather than permanent loss. The majority of mishandled bags are reunited with their owners within 48 hours, often arriving on the next available flight.

Common reasons include short connection times, missed transfers, damaged baggage tags or late-loading during busy departure periods. International flights involving several airlines are generally more vulnerable to delays than direct routes, simply because luggage has to move through multiple handling systems before reaching its final destination.

How to improve your chances

Experienced travellers have developed a few simple habits that can significantly reduce the inconvenience if luggage does go astray. Photographing your suitcase before travelling makes it easier to identify, while removing old baggage stickers helps prevent scanners reading outdated flight information.

Many passengers now also place Bluetooth or GPS tracking devices inside checked luggage, allowing them to see exactly where their suitcase is through a smartphone app. Although the tracker won’t stop baggage going missing, it can often help airport staff locate it more quickly. Keeping medication, valuables, travel documents and a change of clothes in hand luggage is another precaution that can save a holiday if checked baggage is delayed.

Know your rights

If your luggage fails to arrive, report it immediately before leaving the airport. Airlines will usually ask passengers to complete a Property Irregularity Report (PIR), which officially records the missing baggage and begins the tracing process.

Passengers may also be entitled to reimbursement for essential purchases, such as clothing or toiletries, while waiting for their luggage to be returned, although receipts should always be kept. In cases where baggage is permanently lost or seriously delayed, compensation may also be available under international aviation rules, depending on the circumstances.

Don’t let it ruin your holiday

With millions of bags travelling successfully every week, the chances are your suitcase will arrive exactly where it should. Even so, the latest rankings serve as a reminder that the world’s busiest airports face enormous logistical challenges, particularly during the height of the summer travel season.

For anyone heading abroad, a few minutes spent preparing before checking in could make all the difference if your suitcase decides to take an unexpected detour. After all, discovering your luggage has gone sightseeing without you is one travel souvenir nobody wants to bring home.

For centuries, people have claimed that animals can sense a solar eclipse long before humans fully understand what is happening. Birds suddenly stop singing. Bats emerge in broad daylight. Nocturnal creatures begin their nightly routines, while daytime animals appear confused as the sky unexpectedly turns dark. In the coming weeks, scientists across Spain hope to discover exactly how much of that is true.

As the country prepares for the total solar eclipse on August 12, two of northern Spain’s best-known wildlife parks, Cabárceno Nature Park and Santillana del Mar Zoo, will become part of one of the largest studies ever carried out in the Iberian Peninsula into how animals react when day suddenly becomes night.

A rare opportunity for science

The eclipse is already expected to attract thousands of visitors, astronomers and photographers eager to witness one of nature’s most spectacular events. It will also mark the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Spain in more than a century, creating a scientific opportunity that few researchers have experienced during their careers. While millions of people will be watching the sky, researchers inside twelve zoos across Spain and Portugal will have their attention fixed elsewhere.

Their focus will be on the animals.

The project, coordinated by the Asociación Ibérica de Zoos y Acuarios (AIZA), will use high-definition cameras and audio equipment to document behavioural changes before, during and after the eclipse, creating one of the most detailed records ever assembled of wildlife responses to this rare natural phenomenon. Lions, elephants and other species under close observation At Cabárceno, researchers will pay particular attention to lions and elephants.

Lions naturally become more active towards dusk, leading scientists to wonder whether the sudden darkness created by the eclipse will trigger behaviour normally seen later in the day. Elephants are also expected to provide valuable information because their activity patterns often change as daylight fades.

Across the other participating parks, researchers will monitor bears, primates, birds and a variety of other species, looking for changes in movement, vocalisations, feeding behaviour and social interactions. Every reaction, whether dramatic or barely noticeable, could provide new insight into how animals interpret sudden changes in their environment.

What scientists already know

Previous eclipses have produced remarkable observations around the world. Birds have been seen abandoning daytime activity and returning to their nests as though sunset had arrived. Crickets and other insects have begun their evening chorus despite it being the middle of the day, while bats have emerged to forage before quickly retreating once daylight returned.

Some primates have displayed signs of confusion, gathering together or changing their normal routines, while giraffes, flamingos and other zoo animals observed during earlier eclipses have shown unusual behaviour ranging from increased alertness to settling down for the night. Scientists believe many of these reactions are linked to animals relying on changing light levels to regulate their internal body clocks.

However, behaviours in a captive environment detailed scientific evidence remains limited, making the 2026 eclipse an important opportunity to collect data across multiple species under carefully monitored conditions.

Every movement will be recorded

This study goes far beyond simply watching what happens on eclipse day. Researchers are already recording the same animals at exactly the same time each day before the event, creating a baseline that will allow them to compare normal behaviour with reactions during the eclipse itself.

By analysing video, sound recordings and behavioural observations together, scientists hope to determine whether animals genuinely interpret the eclipse as nightfall or whether they respond to other environmental changes, such as falling temperatures or shifts in light intensity. The standardised approach across all participating parks will also allow researchers to compare how different species react under similar conditions.

Looking down while everyone else looks up

On August 12, millions of people across Spain will pause to watch daylight disappear. Astronomers will point telescopes towards the Sun. Families will gather wearing eclipse glasses. Cameras will be aimed at the sky in anticipation of a spectacle that many people will only experience once in their lifetime. At exactly the same moment, scientists inside Cabárceno, Santillana del Mar and ten other wildlife parks will be watching something very different.

They will be listening for birds falling silent, watching whether lions begin their evening routines hours early, and recording every movement that could help answer a question people have asked for generations. When Spain briefly falls into darkness, the eclipse will reveal far more than a breathtaking astronomical event. It could also provide one of the clearest insights yet into how the animal kingdom responds when the familiar rhythm of day and night is suddenly turned upside down.

Some crafty brown bears in northern Spain have been rumbled for pulling a fast one on their rivals. Scientists have filmed the animals deliberately leaving marks higher up trees so they seem bigger and more intimidating than they really are.

Researchers from the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC) spent four years watching 164 brown bears in the Cantabrian mountains. They collected a massive 117,000 hours of camera-trap footage across 14 popular marking spots between 2021 and 2024. Results, published in the Journal of Mammalogy, show seven of those bears, roughly one in twenty, worked out how to cheat the system.

Bears normally leave scratch marks and scent signals at the highest point they can reach while standing on their back legs, around two metres off the ground. That height usually gives a fair idea of an animal’s real size and strength. However, a handful of crafty males decided that wasn’t enough. They climbed trees or used natural platforms to push their marks higher, sometimes as far as three metres up. One broken branch found right under an especially high mark gave the game away, clear proof the bear had scrambled up to leave it.

First time this cunning has been filmed in bears

Lead researcher Vincenzo Penteriani from the MNCN said the discovery was a real eye-opener. “Although this is exceptional behaviour, it is the first time it has been documented in bears, which shows their communication is more complex than we thought.”

To test the idea properly, the team fixed wooden platforms next to the usual marking trees and posts. Sure enough, some bears hopped onto them to leave their calling cards higher than nature intended. Scientists believe the tactic could help younger or less dominant males put off bigger rivals without a proper fight. It might even improve their chances with the females during the mating season.

Penteriani summed it up neatly: the bears’ communication sits in a constant balancing act, not completely honest, not completely dishonest, but always shifting between the ones sending the signals and the ones reading them. For a species once thought to stick to straight-up messages about size and power, these Cantabrian brown bears have shown they can be a bit more slippery than anyone expected. It’s so far unclear if Spanish bear cubs boast to their friends that their dad’s bigger.