How to Get Compensation for Lost, Delayed or Damaged Baggage?

The baggage carousel lifts so many colorful bags which seems quite interesting but, when you see it carrying the last bag and it doesn’t belong to you, your heart and mind suddenly gets numb and your stomach drops on the floor. Suddenly your conscience speaks to you – “The airline has lost your bag.” This feels really heart-breaking.

Although airlines have got little better at bag handlings and about 6.5 per 1000 bags were mishandled in the year 2018, but this percentage too creates a lot of inconvenience to the passengers. Imagine you are flying for a wedding, and your black suit and bow tie was there in that lost bag. Will you attend the wedding in your sweatpants you are wearing?

In return, if the airline helps you by giving $50 for “essentials.” Your reaction would be like – “Really?”

Let’s now look what to do when airline lost/delay or damage your baggage; and how you can claim compensation for your baggage.

Baggage Loss, Delay or Damage

First of all, you must know that you have a legal right to claim and ask for compensation from the airline, if your checked-in luggage is lost, delayed or damaged.

You can only claim for the problem if airline is responsible for any of the baggage issues. In such cases, it is suggested to respond as quickly as possible and you must:

• Report the problem directly to the airline.

• Check the deadlines – As per the regulation, you may have to claim within 7 days of your scheduled flight.

Travel insurance can also be helpful in this situation. If you have an insurance that covers your luggage, you must make an insurance claim instead of going through the other process because this way, you are likely to get more money with ease.

What airlines could do for you?

Most of the airlines are usually limited to money for some of the things such as –

• The bare essentials such as – toiletries and underwear will be offered by the airline in case of baggage lost, delay or damage.

• Replacing or repairing cost of the contents available in the lost baggage.

• If delayed, the airline might also give you the transportation cost.

Generally, airlines often ask you to include the receipts in the claim and they usually don’t compensate for:

• Replacement for anything lost or damaged to “New for old”

• For fragile and perishable items in your checked-in luggage

• Not more than 1000 of total compensation

• Not even if you have missed a connecting flight

• If you have been carrying a faulty baggage

How to Report?

It is suggested to report the problem directly to the airline – you don’t have to go legal but if you follow the legal path, you are more likely to get compensation. To report – you need to fill a “property irregularity report” (PIR) at the airport and submit it there.

After reporting, keep a copy of your PIR or any confirmation to support your claim.

Follow the Deadlines to Claim

Claiming For	Deadline
Damaged Baggage	7 days after receiving your baggage
Missing or Damaged Items	7 days after receiving your baggage
Delayed Baggage	21 days after the scheduled flight
Lost Baggage – officially lost after 21 days	Within 21 days after that it is lost

Mostly all the airlines follow these deadlines, but it may vary from country to country. It is always a good idea to check with the airline you are travelling.

How to Claim Compensation for Baggage Lost, Delayed or Damaged?

After submitting a report to the problem by filling the PIR form mentioned in the above paragraph, you need to ask the airline how they would send your claim. If not this, you can also write a letter to the customer service.

In the letter you will include:

• Flight details – date, flight number, departure and arrival

• Explain Luggage Issue

• Describe in detail if something is damaged or lost

• A list of everything you have to buy because of the baggage delay/lost/damage.

• Copies of all your documents

OR, you can simply contact refundme.in and discuss your issue, we will help you get compensation for your lost, delayed or damaged baggage. All you need to do is to fill this simple form.

Team refundme.in is India’s pioneer air travel compensation & air passenger rights provider, saving air travellers from the complexities of cancelled flights, denied boarding or overbooked flights. We register your claim request and get your monetary compensation from the airlines.

Got a claim? we got a team waiting to settle that!