Your Suitcase Didn't Arrive: What the Airline Owes You and How to Get It

Your bag didn’t come out. Here’s exactly what to do, in order, starting right now.

If you’re still at the airport: stop. Do not walk out of the baggage hall yet. Go to the baggage service desk, it’s inside the arrivals area, usually behind or beside the belts, and make them open a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) for your bag. That report and its reference code are your entire claim. Almost everything the airline owes you flows from that piece of paper, and almost every claim that dies, dies because the passenger walked out without it. It takes ten minutes.

If you already left the airport: not ideal, but not over. Report the bag to the airline today, online or by phone, and get a file reference in writing. The sooner it’s on record, the more of your claim survives.

Now, what you’re actually owed, because it’s more than you think: up to about US$2,100 on international flights, up to $4,700 on US domestic flights, plus reimbursement of what you spend while you wait. Most travelers collect nothing because nobody ever told them the rules. Here they are.

At the desk: get the PIR right

Show your baggage tag stub, the sticker they attached to your boarding pass at check-in, and report the bag. They open the PIR and hand you a file reference code.

That code does three jobs. It’s official proof your bag went missing while in the airline’s custody. It’s your tracking number, since most airlines let you follow the search online through their tracing system. And it’s the key every later claim form will ask for.

Photograph the report before leaving the counter, and keep the tag stub safe. The PIR plus the stub is your evidence pair.

One warning while you’re standing there: the PIR starts your file, but it does not always count as the formal written claim the law requires later. You’ll still send a written claim afterwards. Keep reading.

While you wait: your expenses are the airline’s problem

Your bag is now officially “delayed,” and during the delay you have a right most travelers never use: buy the essentials you need, at reasonable cost, and the airline must reimburse justified purchases. Toiletries, underwear, a change of clothes, a charger. Landed for a wedding with nothing to wear? Reasonable replacement purchases are on them.

The rules of this game:

• Keep every receipt. No receipt, no reimbursement. Photograph them the same day, paper receipts fade.
• Reasonable scales with reality. A few outfits and hygiene basics, yes. Designer shopping spree, no. A week-long delay justifies more than an overnight one.
• Airlines cannot impose arbitrary daily caps. In the US, the Department of Transportation has been explicit: a blanket “$50 per day” policy is not enforceable. What’s owed is your reasonable, documented expenses.
• Checked-bag fee refund. If you paid to check the bag and it didn’t arrive with you, claim that fee back too. Some airlines try to refund it as a travel voucher; you can insist on the original payment method, and if they refuse, add it to the written claim.

Some airlines hand out an overnight kit or offer a fixed amount on the spot. You can accept it, but it doesn’t erase their liability for your actual justified expenses.

The 21-day line: when “delayed” becomes “lost”

If the bag hasn’t come back within 21 days of when it should have arrived, it’s officially lost, no matter what the airline’s tracking page says. It’s also lost earlier if the airline admits it. At that point you’re no longer claiming expenses, you’re claiming the value of the bag and everything in it.

The ceilings depend on the flight:

International flights are governed by the Montreal Convention, the treaty covering the vast majority of international routes worldwide. Current limit: 1,519 SDR per passenger, a currency basket unit worth roughly US$2,100, converted automatically into whatever your local currency is. Important: this limit was raised in December 2024 from the old 1,288 SDR. Plenty of airline pages, and even the big claim companies, still quote the outdated lower figure. If a settlement offer arrives based on the old number, that’s your cue to push back.

US domestic flights run under DOT rules: up to $4,700 per passenger. Notably higher than the international ceiling, and most Americans have no idea.

Canadian domestic flights mirror the Montreal Convention limits under the APPR, so the same 1,519 SDR applies within Canada.

EU flights fall under the Montreal Convention too, and it doesn’t matter whether the airline is European: any carrier flying internationally under the treaty carries the same liability.

To claim contents, build an inventory: what was in the bag, roughly when you bought each item, what it cost. Attach any proof you have, receipts, order confirmations, even photos of you wearing the items. Airlines apply depreciation to used belongings, which is legitimate, but their first calculation is usually an opening offer, not a verdict. Documented pushback lands higher, routinely.

Two insider notes here. First, airlines exclude liability for certain categories in checked bags, cash, jewelry, electronics, fragile items, it’s in the fine print of every ticket. That’s why valuables ride in the cabin, always. Second, if you ever check something genuinely valuable, ask at check-in for a “special declaration of interest”: for a small fee, the liability ceiling on that bag rises. Almost nobody knows it exists.

The deadlines that kill claims

Read this section twice, because this is where the money is actually lost.

• Damaged bag: written complaint within 7 days of receiving it. Best practice: report the damage before you even leave the airport, same desk, same PIR process.
• Delayed bag: written complaint within 21 days from the day the bag was finally returned to you.
• Lost bag: claim as soon as the 21-day mark passes or the airline admits the loss. Don’t sit on it.
• Court action: two years from arrival. After that, the right extinguishes completely, everywhere the Montreal Convention applies.

And a US-specific trap: many American carriers require the full claim within 45 days of the flight, even if your bag still hasn’t shown up. Check your airline’s policy the same week, not the same season.

Miss a written-complaint window and the airline can reject everything, no matter how strong the file is. Airlines know most passengers have never heard of these deadlines. Now you have.

Filing the claim: build a paper trail, not a phone call

The file looks the same with every airline on earth: PIR reference, baggage tag stub, boarding pass or booking reference, receipts for essentials, and for a lost bag, the contents inventory with proof.

File through the airline’s baggage claim form online, or by email where the airline works that way, and always in writing. Short, factual, dated, with documents attached. If a phone agent promises something useful, ask for it by email. You’re not writing to move them emotionally, you’re building a record that makes rejecting you legally risky.

Then diarize the deadlines: 7 days, 21 days, 45 days where relevant. A claim filed on time with a PIR and receipts is a strong claim. Everything else is negotiation.

If you want help building the file, start your claim here. We review what you have and tell you if it’s worth pursuing.

Protect yourself for next time

Three habits that cost nothing. Photograph your open suitcase before zipping it, five seconds, and your contents inventory suddenly has proof. Keep documents, medication, valuables and that one irreplaceable gift in the cabin bag, the airline’s fine print excludes most of them from checked-bag liability anyway. And if you’re preparing a parent or an elderly traveler for a trip, pack their essentials in the carry-on for exactly this scenario, the same logic I covered in the guide on helping a loved one fly alone.

If the airline stalls, lowballs, or ignores you

Airlines count on fatigue. Two form letters, a 45-day silence, a settlement based on outdated limits, and most people give up. That’s the business model of saying no.

It’s also where I come in. I handle these fights for travelers from our community, in French and Arabic when needed. Send me your PIR reference and the story, and I’ll tell you honestly what the claim is worth and whether it’s worth pursuing. No fee unless we recover.

And if the same trip involved a delay or cancellation on top of the missing bag, those are separate claims with separate money, sometimes up to 600 euros per passenger, and yes, you can pursue both.

But if you remember one line from all of this: the claim is won or lost at the baggage desk, in the ten minutes before you walk out. Get the PIR. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.

Start your claim here.