Lost Baggage — What to Do Now and What You Are Owed

If you are reading this at the carousel right now

Don't leave the baggage claim area. The single most important thing you can do in the next ten minutes is file a Property Irregularity Report with the airline's ground-handling desk and walk out with the file reference in your hand. Everything that follows — WorldTracer matching, expense claims, Montreal Convention compensation — flows from that one document.

The hour-by-hour playbook

Within 30 minutes: File the PIR. Get the file reference. Take a photo of the document.
Within 2 hours: Buy essentials — toiletries, one change of clothes, any medication you need. Keep every receipt. Under the Montreal Convention you can recover these as interim expenses.
Within 24 hours:Check the airline's self-service tracker using your PIR reference. Confirm your delivery address is correct. Update if anything has changed.
Day 2 to 5:Check twice a day. Email the airline customer- relations team if the status hasn't changed by day 3.
Day 5: File a formal written complaint if there is no progress. This starts the clock on regulator-level escalation.
Day 21: The bag is officially declared lost. The full Montreal Convention claim now opens (currently ~$1,780 USD per passenger for international flights; up to $3,800 for US domestic). File it with all receipts, photos, and proof of contents.

What you are actually owed

US travelers consistently under-claim because the rules feel opaque. Here is the short version:

Interim expenses (toiletries, clothing, essentials) — paid by the airline against receipts, no waiting period required.
Delayed-baggage compensation — varies by airline and route but most US contracts of carriage allow $50–$100/day after the first 24 hours of delay.
Lost-baggage compensation — after 21 days, the bag is officially lost. International flights: up to 1,288 SDR (~$1,780 USD) per passenger under Montreal. US domestic: up to $3,800 per passenger under DOT rules. Pays out against documented loss, capped at those figures.
Travel insurance — most policies pay independent of the airline claim, typically $500–$3,000 per traveler.
Credit card baggage cover — if you paid the airfare on a premium credit card (Chase Sapphire, Amex Platinum, Capital One Venture X), you almost certainly have baggage cover. File this claim too. Many cards pay out within days, on top of the airline payout.

Calculate what your bag is actually worth

Most travelers underestimate. The clothes, electronics, and personal items in a typical checked bag are usually worth more than you think. Use our lost-baggage compensation calculator to figure out your maximum legal claim before you file.

How to make sure you never do this again

You cannot prevent an airline from mishandling a bag. You can collapse the recovery time from days to hours.

The single biggest failure point in airline baggage recovery is communication. A baggage handler at LAX finds your bag in a hold-room two hours after you land. They have your name from the airline tag, but no fast way to contact you. The WorldTracer match takes 6–24 hours. You spend the night without your stuff.

A BagBeacon QR tag closes that gap to under 10 seconds.The handler scans the QR code on the outside of your bag, taps “share my location with the owner,” and you get an SMS and email with their location to ±10 meters via what3words. You call them back. The bag is on the next courier or you collect it yourself before you have even checked into the hotel.

Read more about the BagBeacon baggage tracker or get a tag at the link below.

Protect your next trip

A BagBeacon QR tag costs less than a single airport sandwich. The next time your bag is mishandled, you will know within seconds of someone finding it.

Get a BagBeacon tag →

Airport-by-airport recovery guides

The detail varies by airport. Here are step-by-step guides for the major US hubs:

Frequently asked questions

What counts as "lost baggage" vs "delayed baggage"?

In the language of the US Department of Transportation and the Montreal Convention, baggage is officially "lost" only after 21 days of being missing. Anything earlier is technically "delayed" or "mishandled." The distinction matters because compensation rules differ — delayed bags trigger reasonable-expense reimbursement under most airline contracts, while lost bags trigger the full Montreal Convention payout (currently around $1,780 USD per passenger).

How long does an airline have to find my bag?

Most US carriers have an internal 5-day target to reunite mishandled bags with passengers. 97% of mishandled bags are recovered within that window, according to 2025 BTS data. After 21 days, the bag is declared lost and the airline must pay the Montreal Convention compensation. Before that point, you are entitled to claim reasonable interim expenses (toiletries, clothing, essentials) — keep every receipt.

Who do I file the lost baggage report with?

At the airport — before you leave the baggage claim area. File a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) with the airline's ground-handling representative. You will receive a file reference (often 6 alphanumeric characters, e.g. BA12345). Do not leave without it. The PIR is the document that triggers the airline's WorldTracer system, which is the global database airlines use to match found bags to passengers.

What is the WorldTracer system?

WorldTracer is a shared database used by 2,800+ airports and airlines worldwide. When you file a lost baggage report, your bag details (color, brand, contents, your address) are entered into WorldTracer. When any participating airport finds a bag without owner identification, they enter its details into the same system, which then attempts to match found bags to lost reports automatically. This is why a detailed PIR matters — vague descriptions don't match.

How much money can I claim for lost baggage?

For international flights, the Montreal Convention sets a maximum of 1,288 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger — approximately $1,780 USD or £1,450 in 2026 figures. For US domestic flights, the DOT caps liability at $3,800 per passenger. Most claims do not pay out the maximum; they pay actual proven losses up to the cap. Receipts, proof of purchase, and photos of the bag contents accelerate the claim. Travel insurance and credit card baggage protection often pay out faster and more generously than the airline itself — file with all of them.

What should I do if the airline says my bag is in another city?

Ask for delivery, not pickup. Under standard US airline contracts of carriage, the airline is responsible for delivering the bag to your address at their expense once it is located. They do not get to ask you to come back to the airport. If the agent pushes back, ask for the contract-of-carriage paragraph that requires delivery — every major US carrier has one, and quoting the policy by name usually resolves the conversation.

Will a baggage tracker help if my bag is lost right now?

Not retroactively — a tracker has to be on the bag before the trip starts to help. But it changes the math for every future trip. With a BagBeacon QR tag on the outside of your bag, the moment any human picks up your luggage (airline employee, hotel staff, taxi driver, fellow traveler) and scans the code, you get a text with their location. Most "lost" bags are not lost — they are at an airport, being held by someone who has no fast way to contact you. A QR tag closes that gap.

What is the difference between a BagBeacon QR tag and an AirTag for tracking lost baggage?

An AirTag tells you where the bag is via Bluetooth pings from nearby Apple devices. A BagBeacon QR tag tells you when a human has found the bag — and gives them a one-tap way to send you their location and contact details. AirTags are passive; BagBeacons trigger when a person engages. For lost-baggage recovery, the second moment is the one that closes the case. Most experienced travelers carry both: an AirTag inside the bag, a BagBeacon outside.

Does travel insurance cover lost baggage?

Most travel insurance policies include baggage cover, typically $500–$3,000 per traveler with sub-limits per item. The policy generally requires you to file a Property Irregularity Report with the airline first and to claim from the airline before the insurer pays. Read your policy for the specific procedure — the order of claims matters, and a missed deadline can void cover. Many premium credit cards also include baggage cover automatically when the trip was paid for on that card.

How do I prevent lost baggage in the first place?

You cannot prevent the airline from mishandling a bag — but you can make recovery dramatically faster. Five things every smart traveler does: photograph the bag and contents before checking it in, keep the printed bag tag receipt, attach an external identifier with your contact info (a BagBeacon QR tag is the modern version of this), put an AirTag or similar inside the bag for location, and keep one change of clothes plus essential medication in carry-on.