HelpES

Lost, delayed or damaged luggage

What you can claim if your bag doesn’t arrive, arrives late or arrives damaged, by when and from whom. The Montreal Convention applies, not the delay and cancellation regulation.

General information, not legal advice. What you’re entitled to depends on your trip, the country, the carrier and the rules in force. If your case is complicated, check with the relevant authority or a professional. More in the terms of use.

What happened to your bag?

  • Your bag was delayed

    The airline is liable for the damage the delay causes you, unless it proves it took all reasonable measures to avoid it. You have 21 days to claim in writing, counted from when you get it back.

  • Your bag is lost

    If the airline admits it’s lost, or it still hasn’t arrived 21 days after it should have, you can claim for it as lost.

  • Your bag arrived damaged or something is missing

    For checked baggage, the airline is liable even if it wasn’t at fault, unless the damage comes from a defect in the bag itself. Report it as soon as you notice and, at the latest, in writing within 7 days of getting it back.

  • It was hand luggage

    The airline is only liable if the damage was its fault.

How much you can be paid

The airline is liable for the damage up to 1,519 SDR per passenger, the limit in force since the Convention was revised on 28 December 2024. SDRs are the International Monetary Fund’s unit of account.

It isn’t a fixed amount like the compensation for a cancelled flight: it’s the maximum. What you’re paid depends on the damage you can show.

If you carry something more valuable, you can declare it at check-in and pay a supplement to raise that limit; the airline must give you the rate if you ask. For expensive items, Your Europe also advises private insurance.

Your Europe still gives a figure of about €1,300, from before the 2024 revision. We use the revised limit here.

How to claim, step by step

  1. In writing to the airline, as soon as you notice: within 7 days if it arrived damaged, and within 21 days of getting it back if it arrived late. Without that claim in time you lose the right to act, unless the airline acted fraudulently.
  2. If the airline operating the flight isn’t the one that sold you the ticket, you can claim from either.
  3. If it doesn’t sort it out and you were flying from Spain, go to the consumer authority of your autonomous community (Spain’s AESA doesn’t handle baggage claims).
  4. And if needed, go to court within 2 years of the flight’s arrival.

When does it apply?

  • To international flights between countries that have ratified the Montreal Convention. If a country hasn’t, the older Warsaw Convention may apply instead.
  • And to every flight by an EU airline, including those that don’t leave the country.
What to carry in your hand luggage in case the other bag doesn’t arriveIf the flight was also delayed or cancelled: your passenger rights

Official sources

Last reviewed: 4 October 2026