Your bag did not arrive
Baggage is not covered by the delay and cancellation statutes at all. It sits under the Montreal Convention, which makes the airline liable for up to 1,519 SDR — around €1,850 — for what the loss actually cost you, against receipts.
Work out what your flight is owed →Different law, different rules, different deadlines
Every compensation statute on this site — EU261, UK261, the Israeli law, the rest — deals with delayed and cancelled flights. None of them pays for a bag. Baggage is governed by the Montreal Convention, which covers almost every international flight on earth.
The Convention does not pay a fixed sum. It caps the airline's liability at 1,519 SDR per passenger and pays what you can evidence within that. Receipts are the claim.
The deadlines are short, and they are what kills most claims
| What happened | Written notice within |
|---|---|
| Bag arrived damaged | 7 days |
| Bag arrived late | 21 days |
| Bringing a court action | 2 years |
Both notice periods run from the day the bag was put into your hands, not from the flight. The two-year action limit runs from arrival and cannot be extended by agreement — no ongoing correspondence with the airline pauses it.
File the property irregularity report at the airport if you can, but understand that the report is not the claim. The written claim is separate, and it is the one on the clock.
A bag that never turns up
There is no moment at which a delayed bag legally becomes a lost one, but twenty-one days is the accepted marker: after that you can treat it as lost and claim for the contents rather than for replacing essentials.
Value it honestly and itemise it. Original receipts for the expensive items are worth more than an estimate, and airlines depreciate clothing heavily. Claims that read like an inventory settle; claims that read like a round number get argued.
What to claim while you wait
- Buy what you reasonably need and keep every receipt. Necessities at your destination are recoverable — that is the point of the delay head of liability.
- Reasonable means reasonable. A change of clothes and toiletries, not a wardrobe. Airlines settle modest itemised claims and fight extravagant ones.
- Claim in writing inside the deadline, even if the bag might still arrive. A claim you can withdraw is better than a right that expired.
- Check your other cover first. Travel insurance and some credit cards pay faster and may cover more than the cap — but do not let that stop you claiming from the airline, which is the one that is liable.
Questions
How much can I claim for a lost bag?
Up to 1,519 SDR, about €1,850, per passenger. It is a ceiling on proven loss rather than a payout: you recover what you can evidence, so itemise the contents and keep original receipts where you have them.
Does EU261 cover my luggage?
No. EU261 and the other compensation statutes deal with delayed and cancelled flights. Baggage sits entirely under the Montreal Convention, with its own limits and its own much shorter deadlines.
How long before a delayed bag counts as lost?
There is no fixed legal moment, but twenty-one days is the accepted point at which you can claim for the contents rather than for replacement essentials. Do not wait past your notice deadline to write.
I only reported it at the airport desk. Is that enough?
Usually not. The property irregularity report records the problem; the written claim is a separate step and it is the one bound by the seven and twenty-one day limits.