What should you do if an airline loses your luggage?

At the airport: before you leave the baggage hall

1. Go to the baggage services desk for the airline you flew with, usually run by a handling agent in the arrivals hall. Do this before going through customs if you can. Coming back later is much harder.
2. Fill in a Property Irregularity Report (PIR). Describe the bag (brand, colour, size, distinctive marks) and give a delivery address and phone number. The UK Civil Aviation Authority advises keeping a copy.
3. Write down the file reference and the tracing website or phone number. You’ll need them for everything that follows.
4. Keep your boarding pass and baggage tag receipt, the barcode sticker usually attached to your boarding pass or booking.
5. If you have a tracker in the bag, check where it last reported and tell the desk. It can speed things up.

The first few days

Many delayed bags turn up within a few days, often on a later flight. While you wait, Citizens Advice says airlines are usually only liable for reasonable essentials, such as toiletries, underwear and a change of clothes. Buy what you genuinely need, keep receipts, and don’t treat it as a shopping trip. Airlines can refuse costs they consider unreasonable.

Check the tracing system daily and keep a note of every call, email and name. If your bag has an AirTag or other item that works with Find My, iPhone users on iOS 18.2 or later can share the item’s location with participating airlines through a temporary link. It expires after seven days, when you’re reunited with the item, or when you stop sharing.

The deadlines that matter

How to write the claim

• Say you are claiming compensation under the Montreal Convention. Citizens Advice recommends this wording because it shows the airline you know your rights.
• Include your PIR reference, flight number, booking reference, and copies of your boarding pass and bag tag.
• List each item with its value and attach receipts, bank or card statements or photos as proof.
• For damage, include photos of the bag and damaged contents, and keep the damaged bag until the claim is settled.
• If your journey involved more than one airline, the CAA says you can usually claim from the last airline you flew with.

How much can you get?

Airline liability for checked bags is capped. The CAA and Citizens Advice both put the maximum at around £1,000 per passenger, and payouts are usually much lower. You have to prove what your items were worth, for example with receipts or card statements. Keep jewellery, cash and electronics in hand luggage where you can, and check your airline’s conditions of carriage, which may limit claims for valuables.

Airline claim or insurance claim?

Travel insurance or a home contents policy with personal possessions cover may pay out more and be simpler, although you’ll usually pay an excess. You generally can’t be paid twice for the same loss, so tell your insurer about any airline claim. Read the policy’s single-item and valuables limits before you rely on it.

If the airline says no

Reply in writing, asking the airline to explain its decision. If you still disagree, check whether the airline belongs to an approved alternative dispute resolution scheme, which can review your complaint independently. If it doesn’t, the CAA can offer guidance. Small claims court is the last resort, within the two-year limit.

Before your next trip

• Photograph your bag and its packed contents. Your PIR description and claim will be much stronger.
• Put contact details on the outside and a copy of your itinerary inside, in case the outer tag is torn off.
• Remove old airline barcode stickers so automated systems don’t read the wrong one.
• Keep medication, valuables, chargers and a change of clothes in your hand luggage.
• Consider an identity label or a Bluetooth finder. They do different jobs (see below).

Limitations

This guide covers checked baggage on flights under UK guidance, and it isn’t legal advice. Package holidays, cabin bags, rail, ferry and coach travel have different rules, and airlines’ own conditions of carriage vary. A tracker can show you roughly where your bag is, but it can’t make an airline move it any faster.