Your trip went well, no delays, a pleasant flight, all you have to do is pick up your luggage and you can leave with peace of mind. You wait by the baggage carousel, you wait, you wait, you wait, and you realize that you are the only one waiting and that the carousel has stopped. Yes... you have to admit... you have lost your luggage, or the company has lost it, in any case you will have to act to find it as soon as possible.
Delayed luggage, what are your rights?
First, it should be noted that a piece of luggage is considered lost after 21 days from the date you were supposed to receive it. If you have just lost it, it is currently considered delayed.
You must act immediately, report the loss of luggage immediately to the counter of the company you used, so that it can record your loss and begin the search.
If there is no ATM at the airport where you are, contact your company as soon as possible to report the loss and obtain a file number.
The most important thing when you are late with your luggage is to act quickly even if you are on holiday; the luggage is certainly not far away!
IMPORTANT: If during the period of absence from your baggage you have purchased essential items, you can obtain a refund from the airline by submitting the corresponding invoices.
What to do in case of lost luggage?
The 21-day period is over and the airline has admitted that the luggage is lost. You are entitled to a refund of your belongings and the lost suitcase.
The refund limit is 1330€. On the other hand, airlines do not refund your items at their new value, they very often apply a discount.
To proceed with the refund, you must send a written request to the company with invoices for the various lost items. If you do not have the documents of your belongings, a refund based on the weight of the suitcase can be offered, about 20€ per kg.
IMPORTANT: It is also possible to make a special declaration of interest at the check-in of your baggage, thanks to this declaration which will allow you to indicate that there are valuables in your baggage, the reimbursement ceiling in case of loss of baggage increases, the airline will have to reimburse you the amount declared during the declaration.
A little information that may reassure you... According to the "Baggage Report", the rate of lost luggage in 2017 in Europe is 7 per 1000 or 0.7%.
Your luggage is damaged
In this situation, you think you are leaving quietly except that you notice that your luggage is not in a usual state, you open it and there you discover that the contents of the luggage is damaged, without waiting you must report it to the airline that was handling your luggage.
The best way is to send it by mail with an acknowledgement of receipt, according to the agreement (mentioned on your ticket), the deadline to declare that your property is damaged is 7 days for the Warsaw Convention and 3 days for the Montreal Convention.
With this claim, you can claim compensation by supporting your statement with evidence, proof or images of the damaged objects.