🧳Lost or Damaged Luggage: Your Rights & How to Claim (2026)

The single most important action happens while you are still airside. Go straight to the airline's baggage service desk (usually right by the carousels) and file a Property Irregularity Report, the PIR. This is the official record that your bag did not arrive, and most airlines will not process a delayed- or lost-bag claim without a PIR reference number. If you walk out and file later, you make your own case harder.

While you are there, hand over or photograph your bag tag, the sticker with the barcode the agent attached at check-in, and keep your boarding pass. Get the file reference number in writing, along with a phone number or online tracking link, and ask specifically how interim expenses are reimbursed and up to what daily amount. Take a photo of the desk's printed policy if they have one.

These words are not interchangeable, and each one unlocks different rights.

Delayed means the airline knows where your bag is (or expects to) and it is simply catching up to you on a later flight. Most delayed bags are reunited with their owners within a couple of days. While you wait, you are entitled to reasonable essentials.

Lost is what a long delay becomes. Airlines do not usually declare a bag 'lost' immediately; there is a waiting period, commonly around 21 days, after which a still-missing bag is treated as lost and the full liability rules kick in. That 21-day figure also matters legally: under the Montreal Convention a bag not delivered within 21 days of when it should have arrived can be treated as lost.

Damaged means the bag arrived but is broken, torn, or its contents are harmed. This has the tightest deadline of all, so inspect your bag before you leave the airport if you can.

For international journeys, an airline's liability for delayed, lost, or damaged baggage is governed by the Montreal Convention, a treaty that most travel-connected countries have signed. It sets a maximum the airline must pay per passenger, not per bag.

That cap is expressed in Special Drawing Rights (SDR), an international reference unit maintained by the International Monetary Fund whose value is a blend of major currencies and moves slightly day to day. The limit was 1,288 SDR for years and was raised to 1,519 SDR per passenger effective December 28, 2024, as part of the treaty's built-in inflation review. In everyday money that is roughly $2,000 to $2,100, though the exact dollar figure floats with exchange rates.

Two practical points. First, it is a ceiling on proven loss, not a payout you automatically receive; you claim the actual value of what was lost or the real cost of the delay, and the cap only limits the top. Second, 'international' includes the domestic legs of an international itinerary, so a connection inside one country as part of an overseas trip is still covered by the Convention.

If your whole trip is within the United States, the Montreal Convention does not apply. Instead the US Department of Transportation sets the maximum liability, and it is considerably higher than the international cap. As of the most recent revision it is $4,700 per passenger, a figure the DOT updates for inflation every couple of years.

As with the Convention, this is a maximum on proven value, not an automatic check. You submit what you actually lost, and the airline reimburses depreciated or documented value up to $4,700. Airlines can (and do) exclude or limit liability for certain categories, such as electronics, jewelry, cash, and other high-value or fragile items, which is a strong argument for never checking those things in the first place.

You do not have to fund your own emergency wardrobe while the airline finds your bag. When a bag is delayed, you are generally entitled to reimbursement for reasonable, necessary interim purchases: basic toiletries, a change of clothes, and other essentials you need because your belongings are somewhere else.

'Reasonable' is the operative word. Buy sensible replacements, not a designer shopping spree, and keep every single receipt. Some airlines publish a daily interim allowance; others reimburse against actual receipts after the fact. Submit these promptly with your PIR reference. Keep in mind that if the bag is later declared lost, interim expenses and the final lost-baggage settlement together are still counted against the same per-passenger liability cap, so they are not stacked on top of it indefinitely.

Damaged-bag claims are lost more often to missed deadlines than to weak evidence. On international flights under the Montreal Convention you must notify the airline in writing within 7 days of receiving a damaged bag, and within 21 days for a delayed bag counted from the day it was delivered to you. Miss those windows and the airline can decline the claim on procedure alone.

Build your evidence immediately. Photograph the damage from several angles before you leave the airport, keep the damaged item, and hold on to any proof of value you have, purchase receipts, credit-card statements, even product photos from before the trip. For contents claims, an itemized list with approximate values and dates of purchase is far more persuasive than a lump-sum estimate. Note that normal wear and tear, minor scuffs, and manufacturer defects are commonly excluded, so focus your claim on genuine transit damage.

The airline is your first line, but it is often not your best or fastest one. Many mid-tier and premium travel credit cards include baggage-delay and lost-luggage protection when you paid for the trip with that card, and these can pay out faster and cover categories or amounts the airline will not.

Baggage-delay coverage typically reimburses essentials after a bag is delayed beyond a set number of hours, often around 6 hours, up to a daily limit for a fixed number of days. Lost-luggage coverage reimburses the depreciated value of belongings up to a per-passenger cap. Standalone travel insurance works similarly. The key is that these are usually secondary: you claim from the airline first, then submit the airline's settlement (or denial) to the card or insurer to cover the shortfall. Save all documentation, because both the airline and the card issuer will want the PIR, receipts, and proof of value.

Most claims resolve, but slowly, and a firm paper trail moves them along. Follow up in writing (email, not phone) referencing your PIR number, keep copies of everything, and be specific about the amount and the receipts backing it. If a bag is still missing after the airline's declared-lost period, formally ask them to treat it as lost and settle.

If you stall out, you have external options. For US travel, you can file a complaint with the Department of Transportation, which airlines take seriously. For flights within, from, or (on some carriers) to the European Union and the UK, national enforcement bodies handle air-passenger complaints. Your credit-card issuer or travel insurer is a parallel track you can run at the same time. Persistence and documentation win these; a well-organized claim with receipts and a clear number is far harder to ignore than a frustrated phone call.