NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - US Airways' problems with baggage handling, which caused severe problems for its customers over the holiday period, started much earlier, according to a published report.

USA Today reported that lost baggage reports from the U.S. Department of Transportation show that the bankrupt airline fell from an industry average for lost bags in October to the worst among the major airlines in November, December and January.

US Airways logged nearly 72,000 claims for lost or damaged bags over the Christmas holiday, the paper said that this month's report by the DOT's inspector general shows. The paper said that luggage losses rose sharply last fall as large numbers of senior bag handlers left the nation's seventh largest airline under terms of a new labor deal designed to shave costs. The shortage of baggage handlers caused problems including eight planes leaving the airline's Philadelphia hub without any bags onboard over the Christmas holiday.

The airline was so desperate to deal with the staffing and luggage woes that it asked employees to volunteer to work for free over the following week to help resolve the problem.

US Airways tried to hire more bag handlers leading up to the busy holidays, but Tony Armideo, a vice president of the union that represents baggage handlers in Philadelphia, told the paper, "the hole just kept getting bigger."

US Airways spokesman David Castelveter told the paper that reducing lost baggage claims is a priority, and that the airline has 450 new ground workers since Christmas and is still hiring in Philadelphia, Washington and Charlotte.

US Airways (Research) filed for bankruptcy court protection in September and has been seeking labor cost savings from its unions as a way of stemming continued losses.

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