When a checked bag does not arrive, the first move is a report at the airline's baggage desk before you leave the arrivals hall — it creates the property irregularity report (PIR) with a reference number that every later step hangs on, and most carriers run their worldwide bag-tracing system (WorldTracer) from that report. The money side runs on the Montreal Convention, the treaty covering most international flights: airlines owe up to 1,288 Special Drawing Rights per passenger for checked baggage — the limit in force since the December 2024 revision, roughly $1,700 depending on the exchange rate — and the claim deadlines are short enough to surprise travelers: 7 days to report damage in writing, 21 days for delay, and a bag missing after 21 days is treated as lost.
Convention limits and US DOT guidance as of 2026; domestic rules and carrier policies differ — check the applicable regime for your ticket.
What do you do in the first hour?
- File the PIR at the hall. Describe the bag precisely; attach the bag-tag stub from your boarding pass. Get the reference number and the local claims contact in writing or by email — not a hotline you must call from a foreign phone.
- Ask about essentials policy. Many carriers will reimburse reasonable necessities — toiletries, a change of clothes — while the bag is delayed, typically against receipts and capped; the ask is free, the cap varies, and delaying the purchases makes them harder to claim.
- Update delivery details. Bags found later fly on the next flights and deliver to an address; a hotel delivery note beats a default.
- Track and follow up. WorldTracer updates status online; if the file goes quiet past a few days, escalate in writing, because the 21-day clock does not pause for silence.
What is the airline liable for — and what is not covered?
| Situation | Coverage under Montreal Convention |
|---|---|
| Bag delayed, arrives later | Reasonable consequential costs — essentials, transport — against receipts |
| Bag damaged | Repair cost or value, reported within 7 days in writing |
| Bag lost (21+ days) | Value up to 1,288 SDR per passenger, against documented claim |
| Fragile/perishable items, electronics in checked bags | Often excluded by treaty carve-outs and carrier tariffs |
The exclusions are the part worth reading before you fly: the Convention and carrier tariffs commonly exempt fragile, perishable, and certain high-value items from checked-bag liability, which is the industry's way of saying electronics, medication, and documents belong in the cabin. Compensation is calculated against documented value, not aspiration — receipts, photos, and card statements are the difference between a paid claim and a negotiated one.
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Which deadlines actually run out?
- Damage: written complaint within 7 days of receiving the bag.
- Delay: written complaint within 21 days of the bag being placed at your disposal.
- Loss: treated as lost after 21 days; the liability claim follows, and any lawsuit is barred after 2 years from arrival date.
These are treaty deadlines — carriers cannot extend them, and travelers routinely discover the 7-day rule after day ten. Put the dates in the calendar the day the PIR is filed.
How does the process differ on domestic flights?
Two systems sit behind one ticket: international legs fall under the Montreal Convention, domestic legs under national rules. In the United States, DOT regulations require airlines to reimburse passengers for reasonable expenses while a delayed bag is unreturned, to pay compensation up to their declared liability ceiling for bags they deem lost, and to refund the checked-bag fee for a bag that never arrives — the fee refund is automatic in principle, in practice claimed at the counter. The practical consequence is procedural, not financial: file under the ticket's itinerary as a whole, but when correspondence begins, note which leg lost the bag, because the applicable regime and its deadlines follow it. Codeshares add one more pointer: the marketing airline sold the ticket, but the operating airline of the losing leg usually owns the tracing file — address the claim to whoever held the bag.
What else can pay when the bag fails?
Three parallel sources, in the order most travelers should try them. Travel insurance covers baggage loss and delay beyond set waiting periods — often 12 hours — with sublimits per category, so it stacks with rather than duplicates the airline's obligation. Credit card trip protections cover bags when the fare was bought on the card, with their own deadlines; check the issuing bank's benefits guide. And on US domestic tickets, DOT rules require airlines to compensate for lost bags up to their declared liability cap and to refund checked-bag fees for bags never delivered — a small but certain refund many travelers never claim.
How do you make the next bag findable?
Photograph the packed bag and its contents before departure — the claim file starts with proof of what was inside. Remove old tags, which are the top cause of misroutes. Add a tag with a phone number and email inside and outside the bag, since airlines open bags to find owners only for the identifiable. And pack the irreplaceables — medication, documents, one day's essentials, electronics — in the cabin, because every rule on this page exists for the bag you checked, not the one you kept.
Figures and deadlines per the Montreal Convention as revised through December 2024 and US DOT guidance as of 2026; carrier policies add on top, never below, these floors.