Baggage compensation calculator
If an airline delayed, damaged or lost your checked bag, the Montreal Convention gives you a right to compensation and caps it at 1,519 SDR per passenger. Most people never claim because they do not know what that is worth in real money. This works it out.
How much can you claim?
The Montreal Convention caps baggage liability at 1,519 SDR per passenger. That is a ceiling, not a payout: airlines reimburse the loss you can evidence, up to that limit.
Your ceiling under the Convention
up to 1 798 €
Add what you had to buy while the bag was missing to see your figure.
1519 SDR × 1, rate of 2026-08-25
- Reimbursement for a delayed bag is based on receipts. Without them there is usually nothing to claim, so keep every purchase.
This is an estimate to help you prepare, not legal advice and not a guarantee of payment. What an airline pays depends on your evidence, the itinerary and its own review.
How the number is worked out
The Convention makes the airline liable for the loss you actually suffered, up to 1,519 Special Drawing Rights per passenger. SDR is an IMF reserve unit rather than a currency, so the limit in euros, pounds or zloty moves a little with exchange rates. The reference rate used here is from 2026-08-25.
What counts as your loss depends on what happened. While a bag is merely delayed, it is the reasonable essentials you had to buy, proven with receipts. Once a bag is damaged or lost, it is the value of the bag and what was inside, which you have to set out item by item. Those are different claims with different deadlines, so the calculator asks which one you are making before it asks for numbers.
Why the fee matters more than the limit
The large claim agencies work on commission, typically 35% of whatever the airline pays, rising to around 50% if the case goes to court. On a 1,200 EUR settlement that is 420 EUR taken from your reimbursement. BagClaim charges 19,90 € once, whatever the airline pays you, because the work is the same either way: the claim letter, the legal citations and the evidence list that make the claim hard to dismiss.
Convention ceiling: 1519 SDR.