1. According to U.S. Department ofTransportation Data, in April of 2008, there w
ID: 2916345 • Letter: 1
Question
1. According to U.S. Department ofTransportation Data, in April of 2008, there were 253,190complaints related to mishandling of baggage by U.S. Airlines.Mishandling includes lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered baggage.The same data set also shows a total of 50,755,213 enplanedpassengers during April 2008.
a. Assuming that the April 2008 numbersare typical for U.S. Airlines, what is the probability that arandomly selected passenger would have his or her luggagemishandled by airlines? Round your answer to three significantdigits.
The probability that a randomly selected passenger would havehis or her luggage mishandled by airlines Prob (randomlyselected passenger would have his or her luggage mishandled byairline) = number of favorable cases/number of exhaustive case.
= 253190/50755213 = 0.005
b. Lost luggage seems to be a favorite topicof travel experts and sometimes late-night talk show comedians.Travel expert Peter Greenberg is quoted as saying, “There aretwo types of bags: Carry-on and lost.” Greenberg suggestssending your luggage ahead of you using FedEx or luggage services.Based on your answer to part a, is it unusual for a passenger tohave mishandled luggage? Is Peter Greenberg’s comment andadvice warranted? Explain your answers.
c. In computing the probability of arandomly selected passenger having his or her luggage mishandled,we used the total number of enplaned passengers. Do you think thatis the correct number to use? Explain your answer.
Explanation / Answer
b) .005 seems small, therefore it is unusual to have mishandledluggage. If the luggage was very valuable, it mightjustify luggage service. c) number enplaned may be greater than number that checkedluggage, so the number is not correct. The correct number is less than or equal to one calculated.
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