Investigation Finds Dulles has Most Luggage Claims in America

Local CBS affiliate WUSA and USA Today recently completed a joint investigation that found Dulles International Airport has the highest rate of lost, stolen or damaged luggage claims in the United States.

Congresswoman Barbara Comstock is taking action as a result.

Comstock responded by writing a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson regarding Dulles’ astronomically high rate of claims compared to some of America’s other busy airports. The investigation found the Transportation Security Administration paid more than $3 million in claims in the five-year span from 2010-14, while the next-closest airport made about $1 million in claims in that time (Orlando International Airport).

“I was disturbed to read media reports that Dulles International Airport has the highest loss claim payout rate of the nation’s 30 busiest airports,” Comstock wrote. “This is especially alarming with the rate being close to 50 percent higher than Baltimore Washington International Airport and surpassing Reagan National Airport by over 150 percent.”

Comstock noted that many of Dulles’ regular travelers hail from her 10th district in Northern Virginia, and she demanded answers as to why Dulles has taken on more claims than any comparable airport in the country.

“It is essential that passengers and those who conduct trade via air travel have confidence in our aviation network,” Comstock wrote in her letter.

This is not the first time Comstock has demanded answers on behalf of her constituents in recent weeks. She attended a recent House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting (a committee to which she does not belong) to demand answers for the recent hacks of the Office of Personnel Management and IRS taxpayer data.