Your Right to Compensation for Checked Baggage
Airlines are financially responsible for checked baggage that’s delayed, damaged, or lost, under an international treaty called the Montreal Convention (1999), which almost every country has ratified. This applies to international carriage (and, via national implementing law, to a lot of domestic carriage too) regardless of what the airline’s own conditions of carriage say — a carrier cannot contract out of the Convention’s minimum protections.
The Convention sets a liability ceiling, not a guaranteed payout: you’re entitled to your actual, documented loss (receipts for essentials bought during a delay, or the depreciated value of damaged or lost contents), up to a maximum of 1,519 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger for the whole bag claim, a figure raised from 1,288 SDR effective 28 December 2024 under the Convention’s built-in five-year inflation review. SDR is an IMF accounting unit whose value against your local currency moves daily, so treat any dollar/euro conversion you see as approximate. verify current SDR conversion at time of filing
For domestic US flights specifically, a separate US DOT rule (14 CFR Part 254) sets its own liability ceiling of $4,700 per passenger, effective for baggage mishandled on or after 22 January 2025 (up from $3,800), reviewed roughly every two years against inflation. If your itinerary is international — including a US-international codeshare — the Montreal Convention’s SDR limit is what actually applies, not the domestic DOT figure.
What You Can Actually Recover
These are ceilings, not automatic payouts — you must document your actual loss
Delayed baggage
Reasonable, receipted essentials (toiletries, a change of clothes) bought while your bag catches up with you.
Damaged baggage
Repair cost, or depreciated replacement value of the bag and any damaged contents, up to the liability cap.
Lost baggage
Depreciated value of the bag and its contents, up to 1,519 SDR (international) or $4,700 (US domestic), whichever regime applies.
How to Claim, Step by Step
The single biggest mistake is leaving the airport without doing step 1
File a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) before you leave the airport
Go to the airline’s baggage service desk the moment you realize your bag is missing or damaged, and get a PIR filed and a copy given to you. This creates the airline’s official tracking record for your bag and is, in practice, a prerequisite most airlines expect before they’ll pay anything — walking away without one is the most common way people accidentally forfeit a legitimate claim.
Keep every receipt for the days your bag is missing
Toiletries, a change of clothes, anything reasonably necessary because you don’t have your belongings — keep the physical or digital receipts. These are what a delay claim is actually built from; airlines generally will not pay a delay claim on your say-so alone.
Submit your written claim within the Article 31 deadlines
For damage, you must complain in writing no later than 7 days after you receive the bag. For delay, the deadline is 21 days from the date the bag was finally placed at your disposal (delivered to you) — not from when the delay started. A 2025 EU court ruling (Iberia, Case C-292/24) confirmed you can complain any time between the delay and that 21-day cutoff, but miss the cutoff and your claim is generally barred outright, with no discretion for the airline to waive it.
Itemize lost or damaged contents with proof of value
Provide receipts, photos, or reasonable secondhand-value estimates for damaged or missing contents. Airlines commonly apply depreciation to used items rather than paying replacement-new prices — expect a negotiation over value, not a rubber stamp of your first number.
Escalate to aviation authorities or small claims if the airline refuses or lowballs you
In the US, escalate an unresolved complaint to the DOT’s aviation consumer complaint process (transportation.gov/airconsumer). Outside the US, escalate to your national civil aviation authority or take the airline to small claims court. Keep the deadline in mind: under Article 35 of the Montreal Convention, your right to sue is extinguished if you don’t bring legal action within 2 years of arrival (or scheduled arrival) — this is separate from, and much longer than, the 7/21-day complaint windows above.
Documents to gather
- Your Property Irregularity Report (PIR) number and copy
- Boarding pass and baggage claim tags
- Receipts for essentials bought during a delay
- Photos and, where possible, purchase receipts for damaged or missing contents
- Any written correspondence with the airline
Timelines and Limitation Periods
Two very different clocks: a short complaint window, and a much longer legal-action window
The 7-day and 21-day figures below are Montreal Convention Article 31 complaint deadlines — miss these and you generally cannot pursue a claim at all, with no country-by-country variation since the Convention sets them directly. The 2-year figure is the separate Article 35 deadline for actually filing a lawsuit, which starts running from arrival regardless of how your complaint process is going.
| Jurisdiction | Limitation Period |
|---|---|
| Damage complaint (all Montreal Convention countries) | 7 days from receiving the bag |
| Delay complaint (all Montreal Convention countries) | 21 days from the bag being delivered to you |
| Legal action deadline (all Montreal Convention countries) | 2 years from arrival (Article 35) — extinguishes the right entirely, not just a filing preference |
| US domestic-only baggage (DOT complaint escalation) | File PIR immediately; DOT complaint process timelines apply separately verify current DOT response-time figures directly at transportation.gov/airconsumer before relying on a specific day count |
Realistic Outcomes and Caveats
Most delayed-bag claims are resolved with reimbursement of a few hundred dollars in receipted essentials, not anywhere near the theoretical 1,519 SDR or $4,700 ceilings — those figures are maximums, not typical payouts.
Damaged or lost bag claims involving genuinely valuable contents are where disputes concentrate: airlines routinely apply depreciation and may dispute undeclared high-value items, so expect negotiation rather than an automatic full-value payout.
This page can help you understand your ceiling and the process, but it cannot predict whether a specific airline will accept your valuation, and it is not a guarantee of any particular payout.
Common Pitfalls
Leaving the airport without a PIR
Without a Property Irregularity Report, you have no official record the airline itself created — this is the single most common reason a legitimate claim gets disputed.
Missing the 7- or 21-day complaint window
These Montreal Convention deadlines are short and largely non-negotiable — a late complaint often bars a claim outright, regardless of how clear the airline’s fault is.
Assuming EU261 covers baggage
EU261 governs denied boarding, cancellation, and flight delay compensation — it does not cover baggage. Baggage claims on EU carriers are Montreal Convention claims, not EU261 claims.
Not itemizing or documenting contents
A vague claim ("clothes and toiletries, about $500") is much easier for an airline to lowball than an itemized list with receipts or photos.
Confusing the domestic US cap with the international cap
The $4,700 DOT figure applies to domestic US baggage liability; international itineraries (including US-international codeshares) fall under the Montreal Convention’s SDR limit instead.
Estimate Your Baggage Claim
Use the calculator to organize your delay, damage, or loss details and estimate what you may be able to recover under the applicable liability cap.
Estimate Your Baggage Claim
Use the calculator to organize your delay, damage, or loss details and estimate what you may be able to recover under the applicable liability cap.
This stays in your private workspace until you choose a next step. It does not submit a claim on your behalf on its own.
Official and Legal References
- ICAO — 2024 Revised Limits of Liability Under the Montreal Convention of 1999 (official notice)
- US DOT — Lost, Delayed, or Damaged Baggage
- Federal Register — Periodic Revisions to Denied Boarding Compensation and Domestic Baggage Liability Limits (24 Oct 2024)
- eCFR — 14 CFR Part 254 (Domestic Baggage Liability)
- UK legislation.gov.uk — Carriage by Air (Revision of Limits of Liability under the Montreal Convention) Order 2025
International (Montreal Convention) vs. US Domestic Rules
International carriage is governed by the Montreal Convention’s 1,519 SDR per-passenger cap and its 7-day/21-day complaint deadlines, applied uniformly across ratifying countries. Purely domestic US carriage instead falls under DOT’s own $4,700 liability ceiling (14 CFR Part 254). Always check which regime applies to your specific itinerary before estimating what you’re owed — an international codeshare on a US carrier is still a Montreal Convention claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
Real edge cases, answered in plain language
What if the airline says I should have declared a higher value at check-in?
My bag arrived 10 days late — can I still complain if I only just noticed some damage?
Does travel insurance replace my need to file a PIR and an airline claim?
Estimate Your Baggage Claim
Use the calculator to organize your delay, damage, or loss details and estimate what you may be able to recover under the applicable liability cap.