Recent study about walk time from gate to baggage claim is ‘dubious’ at best, DFW Airport official says
.JPG "An empty baggage claim at Terminal A at the Dallas Fort Worth airport.")
CORRECTION: This story had been edited to include information from DFW Airport that raises questions about the AirAdvisor study.
A recent study from Air Advisor, an airfare compensation company, claimed DFW Airport has the highest risk of baggage theft among 55 airports in the United States, because of how long it takes a traveler to get from an arrival gate to baggage claim.
Air Advisor says it takes an average of 43 minutes to get to baggage claim, but DFW Airport officials said the study’s findings are wrong, or “dubious” at best.
DFW Airport Vice President of Marketing and Communications Heath Montgomery said the study ignores the facts that make the airport one of the “best customer experiences for travelers” in the country, including its walking time from gate to baggage claim.
The 43-minute window stated in the study is not true, Montgomery said. In fact, the airport has one of the shortest distances for travelers from gate to curb at about 300 feet.
“If you went straight to baggage claim, nine times out of 10 you’re going to beat your bag there,” Montgomery said.
The study also claims there were 16,890 recent Google searches for lost luggage. Montgomery points out there are two major airports in the North Texas region: DFW and Dallas Love Field.
Since the study does not differentiate between the two airports, Montgomery calls the study’s methodology “extremely flawed.” Additionally, a search for a lost bag does not equate to a stolen bag.
From January 2024 to February 2025, there were fewer than 20 reports of stolen luggage to DFW Airport police, Montgomery said. On average, the airport sees around 90 million passengers a year.
More than 30 million bags are processed at DFW every year, with much of the responsibility hung on the airlines and not the airport, Montgomery said. Sure, bags sometime go missing but the amount of Google searches for lost luggage does not mean the same thing.
“I think that we offer a phenomenal customer experience,” Montgomery said. “I think the study ignores a lot of the facts.”
How Air Advisor conducted its ‘review’
Service Team reporter Brayden Garcia contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 4:30 PM.