Picky picky picky - I can't help myself (report on lost baggage) #logical reasoning #airlines

I don't know why I was reading an article on lost baggage, but this extract links to a Forbes report on the decreasing rate of lost items on US carriers, and the disproportionate "success" of low-cost airlines in not losing stuff:

The data seems to reveal some good news for travelers: Airlines are mishandling fewer bags than they used to. In 2007, fliers reported between six and eight bag screw-ups per thousand. In 2008, that number fell to 4.88 per thousand. But it may be that the numbers have come down because fewer people are flying in the economic downturn, and travelers are schlepping fewer bags.

What interested me most was the reasoning. Note that we are talking about a rate of loss per thousand passengers, not absolute values, therefore thinking that "the numbers have come down because fewer people are flying in the economic downturn" doesn't make any sense. That quibble aside (a big one, really) the fact that - for various reasons - people are checking fewer baggage items per trip does make a difference. To be fair to the writer, mention is also made that the low-cost carriers have fewer connection points (ie opportunities to lose stuff) and generally discourage check-in baggage anyway, hence better results. You can't lose what you don't have.

I'd still like to read the full report, if only to help grasp what this statement means:

The December data alone show sharp improvement. Though the number of passengers only fell by 2.5 million from 2007 to 2008 (5.3%) the number of baggage reports plummeted 27%.

So this is "December data alone", which sounds like one month, yet the figures quoted "from 2007 to 2008" are for what seems to be a full year? And suddenly we appear to be reading about a percentage decline in absolute values, rather than the previously quoted "per passenger" values. If we are comparing December 2007 with December 2008, as I suspect, then it could indeed be good news for December travellers. Did they check-in fewer items? Did they choose to fly more direct flights? Did they forget to report what they lost? Did airline staff simply try harder for Christmas? 27% is a big fall - almost unbelievably so, even year-on-year.

Not that I really care, I was just sidetracked. Hmmm, I wonder what the lost-item recovery rate per thousand passengers is?