Baggage problems
Lost baggage: what to do and what you can claim
My checked bag has not come out — what do I do, and when is it treated as lost?
Applies to: International · National law variesRules last checked:
On this page
In short
Report the missing bag to the airline’s baggage desk before you leave the airport and get a written reference. Airlines search for bags first; under the Montreal Convention you can enforce your rights against the airline once it admits the loss, or when the bag has not arrived 21 days after the date it should have arrived.
From then you can pursue the airline for the loss, up to a liability limit of 1,519 SDR per passenger, and you must sue within two years if it is not settled. Written deadlines for damage and delay claims are much shorter (see the checklist guide).
What to do next
- Get the written report and reference before you leave the airport.
- Photograph the bag tag and keep the boarding pass.
- List the contents with values and gather receipts while the trip is fresh.
- Put the claim to the airline in writing once the bag is treated as lost, and diarise the two-year limit.
- Tell your travel insurer promptly and read its deadlines.
What to do
At the airport: report before you leave
- Go to the airline’s baggage service desk (or the handling agent named on the arrivals screen) before you pass customs and leave the hall.
- Have your baggage tag and boarding pass ready; describe the bag and its contents and give an address where it can be delivered.
- Ask for the written report and its reference number. Keep it: it is the start of your paper trail.
- Note the airline’s tracing website or phone number and the name of the person who took the report.
What happened
When a delayed bag becomes a lost bag
The Convention makes the carrier liable for destruction or loss of, or damage to, checked baggage as long as the event that caused it took place on board the aircraft or while the baggage was in the carrier’s charge; the carrier is not liable to the extent the damage resulted from an inherent defect, quality or vice of the baggage. If the carrier admits the loss, or the bag has not arrived at the expiration of 21 days after the date it ought to have arrived, you are entitled to enforce against the carrier the rights that flow from the contract of carriage.
What to check
What you can claim, and the limit
The airline’s liability for destruction, loss, damage or delay of baggage is limited to 1,519 Special Drawing Rights (SDR, an IMF unit of account) per passenger, according to the limits ICAO revised with effect from 28 December 2024, unless you made a special declaration of interest at check-in and paid a supplementary sum. The figure was 1,288 SDR before that revision.
Compensation is for proven loss: expect to document what was in the bag and what it cost. Ask what evidence the airline wants — receipts, photographs, bank statements — and keep it. Airlines’ own conditions often say they exclude valuables, cash and electronics; whether such a clause can be enforced against you is a legal question, so keep valuables in hand luggage.
Your travel insurance may also cover a lost bag; read its own time limits and evidence requirements, because they are usually shorter than the legal ones.
What to check
Time limits
The right to damages is extinguished if court action is not brought within two years, counted from the date of arrival at the destination, the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or the date the carriage stopped. How that period is calculated is decided by the law of the court dealing with the case.
Sources
- Montreal Convention 1999 — text as scheduled in UK legislation — legislation.gov.uk (UK National Archives)
- Revised limits of liability under the Montreal Convention (effective 28 December 2024) — International Civil Aviation Organization
- Limits of liability for passengers and goods — Canadian Transportation Agency — Canadian Transportation Agency
General information to help you understand your options — not legal advice, and not a promise that any payment or refund is due to you. Your rights depend on the facts of your journey and the law that applies; check the official sources above and the carrier’s own terms.