Guide

Lost, delayed or damaged luggage: what the airline owes you

When an airline loses, damages or delays your checked bag, two separate things may be owed to you: a refund of any bag fee you paid, and compensation for what you actually lost. They come from different rules, they have different deadlines, and the second one depends heavily on whether your trip was domestic or international. This guide separates them.

Last verified 16 October 2026Source: 14 CFR Part 254 (eCFR)

Before you leave the airport

The single most important step happens at the baggage carousel. If your bag does not arrive, or arrives damaged, report it at the airline's baggage service office (or its handling agent's desk) before you walk out, and keep the reference you are given. US rules call this a Mishandled Baggage Report; outside the US you will often hear it called a Property Irregularity Report or PIR. Either way, it is the document every later claim is built on.

• Get the file reference in writing, plus the tracing link or desk contact.
• Photograph a damaged bag there and then, including the bag tag.
• Keep the boarding passes and bag-tag stubs. They prove the bag was checked on that itinerary.
• Agree a delivery address if the bag is delayed. The delay is measured until the bag reaches you or that address, not until it reaches the airport.

On a connecting itinerary, report to the airline that operated the last flight. That is the carrier US rules make responsible for refunding the bag fee, and it is usually the one that will trace the bag.

Refund of the bag fee: delayed or lost bags

Since the US refund rule in 14 CFR Part 260 took effect, an airline that charged you to check a bag must refund that fee if the bag is lost or significantly delayed and you filed a Mishandled Baggage Report. The regulation defines significantly delayed as not delivered within:

The 15 and 30-hour standards also apply to the domestic legs of an international trip. The refund must be at least what you paid for that bag. There are three exemptions: you did not collect and re-check the bag at your first US port of entry as customs requires, you abandoned the itinerary before the final destination (a "hidden city" ticket), or you agreed to fly without the bag after missing the check-in cut-off or flying standby.

The fee refund is not compensation for your inconvenience. It is simply the airline giving back money for a service it did not deliver. The wider refund rules are covered in refund rights when a flight is cancelled or delayed.

Compensation on a US domestic trip

For travel within the United States, 14 CFR Part 254 sets the floor. On any flight segment using an aircraft with more than 60 seats, or any segment on the same ticket as such a flight, an airline may not limit its liability for loss of, damage to, or delay in delivering your baggage to less than $4,700 per passenger. The Department of Transportation reviews that figure every two years against inflation, so check the regulation before relying on it.

Three things about that number trip people up:

• It is a ceiling on the claim, not a payment. You recover provable losses: the value of what was lost or damaged, or the reasonable cost of what you had to buy because the bag was late. Airlines usually value lost items at their depreciated value rather than the replacement price, and will ask for receipts or other evidence.
• It is per passenger, not per bag. Two bags lost for one traveller share one limit.
• The contract of carriage matters. Airlines set out in their contract of carriage which items they exclude or limit (fragile items, cash, jewellery and electronics are typical examples) and whether you can buy excess valuation for a higher limit. Valuables belong in your carry-on.

Compensation on an international trip

Most international journeys to or from the US fall under the Montreal Convention, an international treaty. It makes the airline liable for checked baggage that is destroyed, lost, damaged or delayed, up to a per-passenger limit expressed in Special Drawing Rights (an International Monetary Fund unit). The limit is reviewed for inflation periodically, and the airline's conditions of carriage state the figure it applies. For a sense of scale, the European Commission's Your Europe site currently describes the limit for travellers on EU airlines as approximately €1,300.

The Convention also sets the deadlines that catch people out:

If the dispute cannot be settled, a court action must generally be brought within two years of arrival, or of the date the bag should have arrived. The written complaint is separate from the report you filed at the airport; a short email or the airline's online claim form, sent within the deadline and kept, is the safest approach.

If you booked US domestic flights on a separate ticket from your international flight, each ticket is its own journey for these purposes, and a bag that does not check through can fall between the two. Our guide to booking US flights from the UK or Canada explains why that matters.

Delayed bags: what you can reasonably buy

A delayed bag is the most common problem and the easiest to recover from if you keep it reasonable. Essentials such as toiletries, a change of clothes, or a charger you need for work are the kind of interim purchases airlines accept, within the liability limits above. Every covered airline's customer service plan must commit to compensating passengers for reasonable expenses caused by a delayed bag (14 CFR 259.5(b)(3)), so this is not a favour. Each airline handles these claims differently, some with a set daily amount and some only on receipts, so ask at the baggage desk what it will cover before you shop, and keep every receipt.

Airlines set their own point at which a missing bag is declared lost, and on international trips the Convention lets you treat it as lost once the airline admits the loss or 21 days have passed. At that point you move from a delay claim to a loss claim. Ask the airline what period it uses when you file.

A step-by-step claim

1. File the report at the airport and keep the reference.
2. Follow the tracing through the airline's online tool or desk contact.
3. Send a written claim within the deadline: 7 days for damage and 21 days after delivery for delay on international trips. Do it promptly on domestic trips too, because airlines set their own time limits in the contract of carriage.
4. List what was lost or bought, with receipts, photos or bank statements, and the approximate age of each item.
5. Ask for the bag fee back if the bag was significantly delayed or lost; it should come automatically, but chase it if it does not.
6. Escalate if the airline does not respond or refuses without reason. For flights to, from or within the US, you can file a complaint with the DOT Aviation Consumer Protection office.

Travel insurance or a credit card benefit may also cover delayed or lost baggage, usually as a top-up over what the airline pays. Check the policy wording; most require the airline's report and claim outcome first. And if you are trying to keep bag costs down in the first place, see airline baggage fees compared and the TSA liquids rule for what can travel in the cabin instead.

Common questions

Sources

• 14 CFR Part 254, Domestic Baggage Liability (eCFR)
• 14 CFR Part 260, Refunds for Airline Fare and Ancillary Service Fees (eCFR)
• 14 CFR 382.131, Baggage liability limits and mobility aids (eCFR)
• European Commission, Your Europe: Air passenger rights
• AESA (Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency): Baggage
• US Department of Transportation: File a consumer complaint

General information, not legal advice about your situation. Trailisse is an independent travel agency; the airline's contract of carriage, the regulations and the treaty text are the authority.