Report the baggage problem before leaving the airport
A missing suitcase is not covered by the familiar €250–€600 flight-delay table. Baggage claims follow a different legal system built around the Montreal Convention and, for EU airlines, Regulation (EC) No 2027/97. The practical sequence matters: report the problem while the airport can still trace it, preserve the tag and report number, buy only reasonable essentials, and send a documented written claim before the relevant deadline expires.
Start at the baggage reclaim hall. If the carousel stops and your checked bag has not arrived, go to the operating airline's baggage service or its handling agent before leaving the controlled area. Show the boarding pass and baggage tag, confirm the bag's identifying details, delivery address and contact information, and ask for a Property Irregularity Report or equivalent trace report. A tracing report is important evidence, but it is not necessarily the airline's formal compensation claim.
Use precise language. Delayed baggage has not arrived with you but is still being traced. Lost baggage is baggage the carrier admits is lost or that has not arrived after 21 days from the date it should have arrived. Damaged baggage includes a broken case, wheels, handles or contents; missing contents may also need a police report if theft is suspected. Photograph the condition before repair, disposal or further handling changes the evidence.
Keep the original baggage receipt or tag, boarding pass, booking confirmation, trace report, photographs, airline messages, delivery record and every itemised receipt. Write down when the problem was first reported, which desk handled it and what the agent said. If the airline asks you to use an online portal, save the submission confirmation and a complete copy of what you sent. Screenshots are useful when a case status or airline page later changes.
Delayed baggage and reasonable replacement costs
For delayed checked baggage, buy only what is reasonably necessary for the place and duration of the delay. Toiletries, basic clothing, laundry or essential medication replacement may be defensible; a complete luxury wardrobe usually is not. The convention compensates proven damage caused by delay, not inconvenience through a fixed daily allowance. Airlines may apply practical policies, but the legal question remains whether the expense was necessary, reasonable and evidenced.
Context affects reasonableness. A traveller whose bag is delayed on the outward leg of a work trip may need clothes immediately, while someone whose bag arrives late after returning home may have little replacement cost. Mitigate the loss where possible: ask when delivery is expected, reuse available items and avoid purchases that cannot be explained. Keep currency records and state which person used each item when several travellers share receipts.
Damage, missing contents and cabin baggage
Damage should be reported at the airport as soon as it is noticed. Ask the baggage desk to record the damage and photograph the case from several angles with the tag visible. Do not accept a casual verbal assurance that the airline will know about it later. The Montreal Convention requires a written complaint after receipt of damaged checked baggage no later than seven days from receipt, so submit the formal claim promptly even when a repair company or replacement portal is also involved.
Hidden damage and missing contents can be harder to prove. Record the unopened or newly opened case, seal condition, locks and interior; list the missing or broken items; preserve receipts, photographs, serial numbers or other ownership evidence; and check whether the carrier's conditions exclude fragile, valuable or inadequately packed items. The carrier can avoid liability where damage resulted from the baggage's inherent defect, quality or vice. That does not excuse damage caused while a sound bag was in its charge.
Checked and cabin baggage use different fault rules. For destruction, loss or damage to checked baggage while it is in the carrier's charge, the carrier is liable unless an inherent defect, quality or vice caused the damage. For unchecked cabin baggage and personal items, the passenger generally has to show that the carrier, its staff or agents were at fault. A passenger dropping a laptop is therefore not the same claim as crew crushing it during forced gate checking.
The 1,519-SDR limit and how compensation is valued
The current liability limit is 1,519 Special Drawing Rights for each passenger for destruction, loss, damage or delay involving baggage. ICAO raised the previous 1,288-SDR limit from 28 December 2024. SDR is an International Monetary Fund accounting unit whose euro value moves with exchange rates. The airline should convert the applicable amount when resolving the claim; do not freeze the ceiling into an approximate euro figure copied from an older web page.
The ceiling is not automatic compensation. A claimant must prove the actual recoverable loss, and payment should not exceed that loss merely because a bag disappeared. For a delayed bag, the claim usually concerns reasonable replacement expenses. For a lost bag, build a credible contents list with age, purchase evidence and present value rather than treating every used item as new. The 1,519-SDR limit normally covers material and eligible non-material damage together and applies per passenger, not per suitcase.
A family may have checked bags under one traveller's name. Court of Justice case law recognises that another passenger can claim for their own belongings inside that checked baggage if they can satisfactorily prove the contents and that they travelled together. Make the allocation explicit: identify each affected passenger, ticket and item. Do not assume that three bags tagged to one booking automatically create three liability ceilings.
Expensive contents need planning before the flight. The Montreal Convention permits a higher limit where the passenger makes a special declaration of interest in delivery at destination when handing over the checked baggage and pays any required supplementary sum. Ask the airline in advance because the procedure and acceptance conditions matter. Travel insurance, specialist cover and keeping medicine, keys, documents and irreplaceable items in permitted cabin baggage may be more practical protections.
Seven days, 21 days and the two-year court limit
Deadlines are short and easy to misunderstand. A written complaint for damaged checked baggage must be made no later than seven days after receiving it. For delayed baggage, the written complaint must be made no later than 21 days after the bag is placed at your disposal. A bag that has still not arrived after 21 days, or that the carrier admits it has lost earlier, can be treated as lost. Send the lost-bag valuation and documents without waiting indefinitely for tracing.
A report at the airport and a written compensation claim serve different purposes. The airport report starts tracing and records the immediate facts. The claim tells the carrier what legal loss you want reimbursed and supplies proof. Complete both. Address the claim to the carrier responsible under the contract and flight arrangements, quote the booking and baggage-reference numbers, separate delay, damage and missing-content amounts, attach copies and request a reasoned written decision.
The Montreal Convention also sets a two-year period for bringing a damages action, calculated from arrival at the destination, the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or the date carriage stopped. That court deadline does not extend the seven- or 21-day written-complaint rules. National procedure decides how to bring the action and may affect jurisdiction and costs, so obtain qualified advice well before the second anniversary if a material claim remains unresolved.
Connections, insurance and escalation
Connecting journeys need a complete record. If the baggage was checked through to the final destination, retain every tag and identify all carriers and segments. The contracting carrier and the carrier that actually performed the relevant carriage can have roles under the convention. Claim through the airline's instructed channel, but do not let companies redirect you endlessly without a case number. Ask in writing which carrier is handling the baggage claim and why.
Separate the baggage claim from other rights. A late suitcase does not itself trigger Regulation 261/2004's standard flight-delay compensation. If the flight also arrived three hours late, was cancelled or involved denied boarding, use the relevant Federal Europa guide for that separate claim. If the flight formed part of a package, notify the organiser too, especially when missing baggage materially affects the holiday; the same loss cannot be recovered twice.
Travel insurance and card cover may pay where the airline limit, exclusions or proof rules leave a gap. Notify the insurer within its deadline and disclose payments or offers from the airline. The insurer may require the trace report, airline decision, receipts and proof of ownership, and may deduct depreciation or an excess. Insurance does not remove the need to make the airline claim on time, because the insurer may expect you to preserve recovery rights.
If the airline rejects or underpays the claim, ask for the contractual and legal reason, the SDR conversion date, the valuation method and any missing evidence. Correct errors and use the airline's complaint process. An alternative-dispute-resolution body, European Consumer Centre, national consumer authority or court may be appropriate. The European Small Claims Procedure can be considered for an eligible cross-border civil claim up to €5,000, subject to jurisdiction and the convention's two-year time bar.
Mobility equipment, legal change and the next step
Special equipment deserves special care. Passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility have assistance rights, and damage to wheelchairs or other mobility equipment can create costs far above an ordinary baggage ceiling. Record the equipment's condition, specifications and handling instructions before travel and report damage immediately. The air-passenger reform finally approved in July 2026 contains stronger future protection, but on 22 September 2026 it was not yet the applicable rule; check the application date for the flight.
Europe's common air-liability rules turn a cross-border baggage failure into a claim with recognisable duties, deadlines and a shared unit of account. The system is still unnecessarily opaque: tracing and compensation portals are fragmented, euro estimates go stale, and passengers often learn too late that an airport report was not the formal claim. A more federal passenger-rights service should let one verified report follow the journey, the bag and the responsible carriers across borders.
Until that exists, use a disciplined sequence: report at the airport, keep the tag and reference, photograph damage, buy only reasonable essentials, submit the separate written claim, prove each amount, calendar seven days, 21 days and two years, and keep every reply. Those steps cannot guarantee recovery, but they protect the evidence and deadlines on which a fair decision depends.