Las Vegas airport one of the nation’s worst at handling luggage, report shows

Harry Reid International Airport ranks among the nation’s worst hubs for luggage handling, according to a study released by Holafly, an international travel eSIM provider. The analysis of Transportation Security Administration complaint data placed the Las Vegas airport fifth out of the 20 busiest U.S. airports for combined mishandled and lost‑and‑recovered baggage reports, with a rate of 15.79 incidents per 1 million passengers. Between 2015 and 2025, Harry Reid International logged 4,388 mishandling complaints and 128 lost‑and‑reported‑found cases. The airport serves roughly 30 million travelers each year. “Las Vegas is simply a city where many trips either start or end, and Harry Reid International operates in that manner as an origin‑and‑destination airport, which means bags get and depart in large batches from weekend arrivals, red‑eye departures and convention‑goers,” said Harry Deacon, travel expert for Holafly. “When there are mix‑ups, it can cause a snowball effect.” Only Orlando International, John F. Kennedy International, Miami International and Fort Lauderdale‑Hollywood International airports recorded higher combined complaint rates per 1 million passengers over the same decade. Holafly also examined online search trends for the five most commonly lost items—phones, AirPods, laptops, wallets and keys—to gauge passenger concern. At Harry Reid International, keys generated the highest search volume, totaling 1,360 queries. Deacon noted that this figure is among the lowest observed across the study’s airports, describing it as “suggesting a positive trend.” The airport did not provide a comment on the study’s findings.