My travel agent here in Germany once came home to Germany from California, and Lufthansa had lost his suitcase. They called him a few days later with good news and bad news. They located his suitcase. That was the good news. It was in Sydney Australia. That was the bad news. Worse yet, they never offered him a free flight to go retrieve it. He had to wait three days for them to deliver it to Düsseldorf.
Passengers are often absent minded, too. Sometimes, despite the incessant recordings in every baggage claim in the world to verify the tag numbers because "many bags look alike (ya think?)." People pick up someone else's bag and walk out of the airport. Or else, they completely forget to pick up a piece of luggage at baggage claim.
Or, there was the case like mine, where both the name tags and the airline's destination tags were ripped completely off in a transfer, and there was no way to trace ownership from anything on the outside or inside.
The only ways to be completely sure you'll never lose any luggage at all are to either fly with only hand-carry, or else buy your own plane and either learn to fly it yourself, or else hire a full time flight crew. One solution means you had better learn to travel light, and the other can get a little pricey, although it does cut down on cancellations.
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