Your Rights When Your Luggage is Lost

You’ve been saving all those holiday clothes for your trip, packed them carefully into a brand new case (which you’ve added a label to so that you spot it on the carousel along with all the other black suitcases) and there you are, hopefully waiting for your case to appear. So, when you wait, and wait...and come to that horrible sinking realisation that you won’t be seeing your luggage any time soon, what should you do?

A recent insurance company poll suggested that around 200,000 bags are lost or misplaced each month at airports in the UK airports – and globally, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the total is a staggering 42 million pieces of luggage.

What Does the Law Say About Baggage?

If your luggage is lost by the airline (and the same applies if it’s damaged or simply delayed in getting to the agreed destination) they could well be liable for damages under a piece of law called the Montreal Convention.

There is a maximum amount of compensation you can claim, which is based on international currencies, and calculated on a daily basis by the International Monetary Fund. There are also time limits that apply to making claims.

You can check www.imf.org for more information on today’s rates.

The airline can also get out of paying compensation under the Montreal Convention if it manages to prove that all the necessary steps were taken to avoid losing your luggage – or that it was actually impossible to take those measures.

What Can I Do if My Baggage Has Been Lost?

According to the Convention, an airline has to treat your baggage as lost if it still hasn’t turned up after 21 days, so feasibly you could be home from your holiday before your baggage has turned up, and still the airline can call it a ‘delay’! However, after 21 days, you can legitimately start shouting about compensation.

The airline will want to know what was in the missing bag, and they may be awkward and ask for a list of items. You could make a list before you go, if you are worried that your bags could go the way of Naomi Campbell’s at T5, or if you have anything valuable in there, make a note. Better still, if you’re taking anything valuable or essential, take it in your carry on luggage. Better to be safe than sorry!

An airline compensation payout is unlikely to cover the full cost of the items you’ve lost. Unless you can prove that there were brand new items in the case, you’ll probably get second hand value – and in some cases it’s actually more cost effective to claim on your home contents, or travel insurance...even after paying the excess. Weigh up the pros and cons before you decide which route to take on a lost baggage claim.

My Baggage isn’t Lost, Apparently it’s Just ‘Delayed’

If you arrive at the airport before your cases do, you should be able to claim compensation to cover the cost of anything you need to buy urgently such as toiletries, and a change of underwear. If you’re lucky, the airline will offer you a one-off payment at the airport to cover this. Some will only pay out a set amount per day and for a maximum number of days. Some will ask for receipts for any purchases you’ve had to make as a result but don’t offer anything up front.

If you haven’t been reunited with your baggage 21 days after your flight, it’s considered as lost and you can claim against the airline for compensation.

The Airline has Damaged My Baggage!

If you’ve ever watched the way luggage is handled when it comes off of the planes, you’ll probably wonder how you’ve managed to get away without any damaged cases up until now! The airline will look at any claims you make about damage to your baggage, and these are paid out based on the value of the bags plus anything inside that was also damaged.

As with lost luggage, they are entitled to ask you for proof and/or receipts for the items you are claiming for, and will more than likely offer a payment based on depreciation if the items aren’t new. If they’ve just damaged the case, they could even just try to give you a replacement. If you have any problems with baggage, whether it’s lost damaged or delayed, the first thing to do is report the problem to the service desk in the baggage collection hall. If you don’t, it can make the whole claiming process that much harder.

When you report the problem, you should ask the representative to complete a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) and give you a copy of it. The airline you’re going to claim from will want to see the PIR when you make your claim. If you haven’t managed to get a PIR, but still need to claim, it isn’t a legal requirement and you’re still entitled to make a claim – it just slows things down.

Time Limits

The Montreal Convention sets time limits on any claims regarding baggage:

• Damaged baggage – seven days from receipt of the damaged items
• Delayed baggage – twenty-one days from the date of delivery
• Lost baggage – there’s no time limit but it’s advisable to make the complaint as soon as possible, once your luggage has either been missing for twenty-one days or the airline has admitted they’ve lost it.

Lost luggage is an ongoing problem with airlines, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. As compensation claiming can be like getting blood out of a stone, the general rule should be that if it’s valuable or essential – keep it with you!

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