The airline lost my luggage: what to do in the first 24 hours
The carousel stops, the belt goes quiet, and your bag is not on it. The good news is that the large majority of mishandled bags are delayed rather than lost, and most are reunited within about two days. The bad news is that your ability to get compensated depends almost entirely on what you do in the next hour, before you leave the airport.
Do not leave the airport first
This is the one irreversible mistake. Compensation and tracing both hinge on a Property Irregularity Report, and filing one is far harder once you have walked out of the baggage hall. Find the airline's baggage desk - it is usually inside the hall itself or immediately beyond it - and file before you do anything else, however long the queue is.
File the report properly
You want a written PIR with a reference number. Give a specific description: brand, colour, shell type, wheel count, and any distinguishing marks such as a coloured tag or strap. Vague descriptions genuinely slow tracing down, because staff are matching against a database of thousands of black four-wheel cases.
Photograph your baggage receipt, the PIR, and your boarding pass before you leave the desk. Get the reference number in writing rather than verbally, and ask which airline is handling the trace if you flew a connection - it is not always the one you are standing in front of.
Check your own tracker before you talk to anyone
If you have a tracker in the bag, look at it now. Knowing that your case is still sitting at the connecting airport, or is already at your destination but in the wrong pile, changes the conversation entirely. Airlines increasingly accept passenger tracker locations as a starting point for a trace, and it turns a shrug into a specific search.
Know what you can claim
Under the Montreal Convention, which covers most international flights, airlines are liable for delayed, damaged and lost baggage up to a capped amount - currently around 1,300 SDR, which is roughly 1,500 to 1,600 euros depending on exchange rates. That is a ceiling, not a payout.
For delay, you can generally claim reasonable interim purchases: toiletries, underwear, a change of clothes, and anything essential to the purpose of the trip. Keep every receipt. Buy sensibly - reasonable is the operative word, and a designer replacement wardrobe will not be reimbursed.
A bag is normally treated as lost rather than delayed after 21 days, at which point the claim moves from expenses to the value of the contents.
Follow up on a schedule
Check the airline's tracing system daily using your PIR reference. If nothing has moved in five days, escalate in writing rather than by phone, and reference the PIR number in every message. Written trails matter if this ends up with a national enforcement body or a small claim.
Making the next trip less painful
Three habits do most of the work. Never check anything you cannot travel without for two days - the list is in what belongs in your personal item. Put a tracker in the lining. And tag the bag so it is identifiable at a glance and traceable if the airline's own tag is torn off, which is exactly what a durable luggage tag is for. What to write on it, and what to leave off, is in this guide.
None of this makes a missing bag pleasant. It does mean that the version of you standing at that carousel next time has a reference number, a location, and a receipt folder.