How to Claim for a Lost, Delayed, or Damaged Checked Bag

Your bag did not come off the belt, or it arrived split open. The wrong assumption is that the airline will sort it out from the tag number on its own. It will not. Money for the delay, the bag fee and the contents is paid only to people who file a report before leaving the airport, keep receipts, and write in before short deadlines run out.

Report the bag before you leave the baggage hall

Go to the airline's baggage desk in the arrivals area, not the check-in counter, and file a mishandled baggage report while you are still airside. Get the reference number in writing. Under the US refund rule, an airline owes nothing for a lost or delayed bag fee unless the passenger filed this report. Most airlines will not look at a later claim without it. Photograph the damage and the bag tag at the desk, and keep the boarding pass and the tag stub.

Ask for the bag fee back once the delay passes the limit

On flights to, from or within the US, the airline must refund the checked bag fee when the bag is not delivered within 12 hours of arrival on a domestic flight, 15 hours on an international flight of up to 12 hours, or 30 hours on a longer one, counted from the moment you could get off the plane at your final airport. Ask for it in the same message as your claim and quote the report number. The refund must be at least what you paid for the bag.

Keep every receipt while the bag is missing

Buy what you need and keep the receipts. On US domestic flights on large aircraft the airline cannot cap its liability for loss, damage or delay below USD 4,700 per passenger, as of September 2026. On international flights the Montreal Convention limit is about 1,300 euros per passenger for the bag and its contents. The airline pays proven losses up to those figures, so a bag full of items with no receipts pays badly. Do not throw out the damaged bag until the claim is settled.

Send the written claim inside the deadline

Write to the airline through its baggage claims page, quoting the report number, and attach the receipts and photos. For a damaged bag the claim must arrive within 7 days of getting the bag back. For a delayed bag it must arrive within 21 days of receiving it. Miss either date and the airline can refuse. There is no EU wide form, so a plain letter or the airline's web form counts, as long as you keep a dated copy.

If that fails. Reply once in writing quoting the deadline you met and the limit that applies, then dispute the bag fee with the card issuer if the refund never arrives. A canceled or long delayed flight is a separate claim, covered in get a refund for a canceled or delayed flight.

If the bag held valuables. The airline is liable for carry-on damage only if it caused it, and it owes nothing for an inherent defect in the bag itself. For an expensive item, declare a higher limit at the counter for a fee, at the latest when you check in, or carry it on.

Sources. 14 CFR 254.4, domestic baggage liability, 14 CFR 260.5, refunding fees for delayed or lost bags, 14 CFR 260.2, definition of a significantly delayed checked bag, Your Europe, air passenger rights, luggage.