Recovery
Lost luggage: recovery guides by airport
Practical step-by-step guides for the moment your checked bag doesn’t come round the carousel. Where to file the report, who actually handles it, what to do in the first 24 hours, and the rights you didn’t know you had.
UK + Ireland airports
London Heathrow
LHRFiling across T2/T3/T4/T5, WorldTracer, Air Passenger Rights Unit escalation. Britain's biggest airport, the busiest baggage system in Europe.
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London Gatwick
LGWNorth or South terminal — where to file, who handles it, and how Gatwick differs from Heathrow when your bag goes missing.
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London Stansted
STNSingle-terminal filing — the low-cost-carrier reality for Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2 and TUI when your bag misses the carousel.
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Manchester
MANBaggage tracing across T1/T2/T3, post-T2-expansion airline allocations, and your rights as a UK departing passenger.
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Edinburgh
EDISingle-terminal filing, post-Brexit Schengen flow, and the airlines that handle most checked bags through Scotland's busiest airport.
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Birmingham
BHXUK's busiest airport outside London — single connected terminal, mix of UK domestic, European leisure, plus Emirates/Qatar/Air India/TUI long-haul.
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Dublin
DUBT1 vs T2 filing, Aer Lingus + Ryanair vs long-haul, US CBP pre-clearance gotchas, and Ireland's Commission for Aviation Regulation as the escalation route.
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US airports
New York JFK
JFKEight terminals, multiple operators, US DOT rules. Filing varies by airline; this guide walks through it terminal by terminal.
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Los Angeles LAX
LAXTBIT plus T1–T8, every major US carrier. The filing process, US DOT rules, and the practicalities of getting a bag back across LA.
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Chicago O'Hare
ORDFiling at T1 (United), T3 (American) and T5 (international + others) — plus the gate-rearranging O'Hare 21 redevelopment to navigate.
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Atlanta
ATLThe world's busiest passenger airport. Filing at the North/South domestic and Maynard H. Jackson international terminals, Delta-dominated.
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Dallas/Fort Worth
DFWAmerican Airlines's largest hub. Filing across Terminals A/B/C/D/E, the Skylink airside transit, and US DOT compensation rules.
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Miami
MIAThe Latin America gateway. North/Central/South concourse filing, the LATAM and AA dominance, and CBP arrivals reality.
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If your airport isn’t here
The general process is the same everywhere — file a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) before leaving the terminal, get the file reference, track online, escalate after 48 hours, claim from both the airline and your insurer. Our generic what to do when an airline loses your luggage guide covers the airport-agnostic version.
Looking for an airport we haven’t covered?
Email hello@bagbeacon.com with the airport you’d like to see covered. We add new airports based on reader requests — if at least three travellers ask for the same one, it gets written.
Once you’ve got the bag back, a QR luggage tag from BagBeacon makes the next time something goes wrong dramatically less stressful. From £2 / $2.50 a month, no app required for the finder.