Evidence checklists, practical deadlines and source-backed guidance for delayed, damaged and lost baggage. Written to help you prepare a cleaner claim, not to replace the airline's rules or legal advice.
Delayed baggage
Airlines publish daily amounts for a delayed bag, and passengers read them as the most they can get. They are guidance. The claim is built from the receipts, inside a limit set by the Montreal Convention.
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Damaged baggage
Do not leave the arrivals hall with only a blurry photo. Record the condition, report the damage and preserve the suitcase while the evidence is fresh.
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Lost baggage
A missing-bag file should not become a guessed shopping list. Build an item inventory with age, proof and realistic values before asking the airline to settle the loss.
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Claim basics
The airport report is the first link in the evidence chain, not a complete compensation request. Check every detail before you leave the desk.
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Claim basics
Airlines do not pay a fixed rate for delayed, damaged or lost luggage. The amount depends on documented loss, up to the Montreal Convention cap.
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Claim basics
Standing at the baggage desk with a form in front of you? Work through the PIR one field at a time and check each entry before you sign and walk away.
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Claim basics
You checked the bag with one airline and landed with another, and now neither wants the claim. The Montreal Convention is clearer than the desk makes it sound: for baggage you can go after the first carrier or the last one.
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Claim basics
The number people find first is 1,519 SDR. Almost everything that goes wrong with a baggage claim starts with reading that figure as a price list instead of a maximum.
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Claim basics
Silence from an airline does not end a baggage claim. The complaint deadline you met protects it; a separate 2-year clock decides how long you have to force an answer, so escalate in order and do not let it drift.
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Damaged baggage
Airlines quote the signature at the belt as if it closed the case. Article 31(1) calls it prima facie evidence, not proof, and the 7-day written complaint period exists precisely because damage is often found after you get home.
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Damaged baggage
Carriers decline damaged-bag claims with a stock phrase about normal wear and tear. The Convention never uses those words. It excludes one thing only, the inherent defect of the bag itself, and the burden of showing that sits with the airline.
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Claim basics
A voucher is a settlement offer, not a payment. Accepting one usually closes the file for good, so the question is not whether the number is generous but whether it matches the loss you can already document.
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Claim basics
Conditions of carriage routinely say the airline accepts no liability for electronics, jewellery or cash in checked bags. Article 26 makes any provision that lowers the Convention's limit null and void, so the list is not the end of the argument it is usually presented as.
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Claim basics
A bag that arrives on time and intact, minus its contents, is the hardest baggage claim to run: nothing looks wrong, and the airline often points at the police. Under the Convention it is partial loss of checked baggage, and the complaint window is short.
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Damaged baggage
Most baggage rules start from a cap of 1,519 SDR. For wheelchairs and mobility aids that starting point is often simply wrong: US rules disapply the baggage limits altogether, and the EU rules add an obligation the airline cannot contract out of.
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Compensation
A settlement worked out as kilograms times a rate is not a small offer. It is the wrong instrument. The weight formula belongs to a treaty the Montreal Convention replaced, and the replacement caps liability per passenger instead.
Read guideRun the free claim check, organise the timeline and see what is still missing before you submit anything to the airline.