Passenger rights · Montreal Convention
Airline Baggage Claims: Lost, Damaged, and Delayed Luggage
When checked baggage doesn't arrive with you — or arrives broken, opened, or missing items — the steps you take in the first hour often determine whether you ever get reimbursed. This guide walks through the airport process, the legal liability limits under the Montreal Convention, and the documentation airlines actually require.
The three types of baggage problem
Airlines and insurers treat these as three legally distinct categories. Mixing them up is one of the most common reasons claims get rejected.
- Delayed baggage — the bag misses your flight or a connection and arrives in the next day or two. Most common; usually resolves itself but you can claim emergency-purchase reimbursement.
- Damaged baggage — the bag arrives but the case is broken, wheels off, zip torn, or contents inside are damaged. Repair or replacement is owed.
- Lost baggage — the bag is officially declared lost after a period of unsuccessful tracing (typically 21 days under international rules). The carrier then owes the value of the bag and contents up to the Montreal Convention cap.
What to do in the first hour at the airport
Resist the urge to leave the airport and "deal with it later". The single act that protects every later step is filing a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) before you exit the baggage hall.
- Go straight to the baggage service desk in the baggage reclaim area, before passing through customs. It will be marked with the airline's name or with an "Arrivals services" sign. On a multi-carrier connection, you go to the desk of the airline that operated the final leg, not the airline you originally bought the ticket from.
- Have your boarding pass and baggage receipt sticker ready (the white printed tag the check-in agent gave you). Without the tag's reference number, the bag cannot be traced.
- Describe the bag precisely. Most airlines use the IATA "Baggage Identification Chart" — a coded reference for case shape, colour and trim. The agent will pick the matching code; check that they pick the right one.
- Get the PIR reference number and the tracking URL. Both are usually printed on the report. The tracking system (typically WorldTracer) lets you check status from home.
- For damaged bags, ask for a damage assessment on the spot if possible. If you walk out without reporting damage, many airlines will refuse the claim later on the basis that the damage could have occurred after collection.
The PIR: your single most important document
The Property Irregularity Report is the airline's formal acknowledgement that the problem started in their custody. The reference number on it is what connects you to the airline's tracing system. Everything else — reimbursement requests, insurance claims, court paperwork — references the PIR number.
The PIR should include: your name and contact details, the flight number(s) and date, the baggage tag number, a description of the bag, contents if relevant, the airport where the irregularity was discovered, and the airline's confirmation stamp or signature. Take a photo of the printed PIR before leaving the desk.
Strict deadlines you cannot miss
The Montreal Convention 1999 (which governs almost all international flights) sets short, strict deadlines after which the right to claim is extinguished:
| Type | Deadline to formally complain to the airline |
|---|---|
| Damaged baggage | 7 days from the day you received the bag |
| Delayed baggage | 21 days from the day the bag was eventually delivered |
| Lost baggage | 2 years from the date the flight arrived (or was due to) |
The 7-day damage deadline is the most commonly missed. The clock starts the day you pick up the bag, not the day you notice the damage. A short, dated email referencing the PIR number stops the clock — even if you can't yet quantify the loss.
Montreal Convention: how much you're owed
For international flights covered by the Convention (which is essentially every country except a handful of states still on the older Warsaw Convention), the airline's total liability for damaged, delayed or lost baggage is capped at 1,288 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger, raised from 1,131 SDR by the November 2024 ICAO review.
1 SDR is a basket-of-currencies unit set daily by the IMF. As of mid-2026, 1,288 SDR is roughly €1,460 / £1,250 / US$1,690. The exact rate at the time the airline pays is what matters.
That cap covers everything — the bag itself, contents, and any emergency purchases during a delay. To go above it you need to have declared a higher value at check-in (and paid an excess valuation charge) — almost nobody does this, so the cap is the practical ceiling.
For purely domestic flights, the Convention doesn't apply. The cap is whatever the national civil aviation authority or the airline's Contract of Carriage sets — sometimes substantially lower.
Delayed baggage: what you can buy and claim back
If you arrive without your bag, the airline owes "reasonable" expenses you incur until the bag is returned. Most major carriers publish an explicit daily allowance — typically US$50–100 / €50–100 per day for essentials — though the legal entitlement is "reasonable necessities", not a hard cap.
Reasonable essentials include underwear, toiletries, a change of clothing, prescription medication, baby/toddler supplies and (for business travellers) appropriate work attire if a meeting is imminent. Keep itemised receipts.
What's not typically reimbursed: luxury replacements ("my Hermes scarf was in there, I bought another"), full wardrobes when delivery is imminent, cash or jewellery you say was in the bag but didn't declare, and anything bought after the bag was delivered.
Damaged baggage: how airlines value contents
Airlines apply heavy depreciation. A 3-year-old suitcase will be valued at perhaps 30–40% of its original price even if it looks fine, because that's what the airline's settlement schedule says. To push back you need either:
- Original purchase receipts (paper or email) for the bag itself, and
- Repair quotes from a luggage repair shop if repair rather than replacement is possible.
For damaged contents inside the bag, the airline will normally pay only after itemised lists and photos of each item. Anything fragile (electronics, ceramics, alcohol, perfume) is often refused outright on the grounds that the airline's tariff prohibits putting such items in checked baggage — check the tariff before buying that argument.
Lost baggage: when "delayed" becomes "lost"
Under IATA practice and the Montreal Convention, baggage is treated as "lost" when 21 days have passed without delivery. At that point you can submit a final claim for the bag's full value and the contents, up to the SDR cap.
For lost-baggage claims the airline will ask for: the PIR, baggage tag, original ticket / e-ticket, a detailed inventory of contents with values and ages, supporting documentation (receipts, photos) for higher-value items, and identification. The inventory is what the claim is settled on. Vague inventories ("clothes €500, electronics €400") get heavily discounted; itemised inventories with serial numbers and dated receipts do not.
Travel insurance vs the airline
Most travel insurance policies cover baggage problems — sometimes more generously than the airline, sometimes less. Two practical points:
- Insurance is usually secondary. They expect you to claim from the airline first, then top up. Bring the airline's settlement or refusal to the insurer.
- Many insurers have a 12 or 24-hour wait before delayed-baggage cover kicks in. That gap is the airline's responsibility, not the insurer's.
Six tips that actually help
- Photograph the bag closed, with contents laid out, before you check in. A timestamped photo on your phone is what insurers and airlines accept as proof of the bag's state and contents.
- Use an Apple AirTag or similar tracker. When it's in the bag, you can show the airline that — for instance — the bag is still at the connecting airport, which speeds up tracing.
- Pack one change of clothes and essential medication in carry-on. This is the single best protection against a delayed bag.
- Don't pack valuables in checked baggage. Almost every airline tariff excludes liability for cash, jewellery, electronics and important documents. Putting them in checked baggage is putting them at your own risk.
- Keep receipts for anything purchased during a delay. Reimbursement is item-by-item; no receipt, no money.
- Open the bag at the airport if you suspect damage. If you walk out and discover damaged contents at home, it's almost impossible to prove the damage occurred before collection.