A checked bag that has not arrived 21 days after it should have makes the airline liable for the bag and its contents up to 1,519 SDR per passenger — approximately US$2,080 at the IMF rate of 4 September 2026. Article 17(3) of the Montreal Convention is what turns a late bag into a lost one.
[Your full name]
[Your address]
[Email]
[Phone]
[Today's date]
[Airline name] — Baggage Claims
[Airline claims address or online claim form]
Re: Lost baggage claim, Montreal Convention 1999, Article 17
Flight [Flight number]
Route [Departure airport] to [Final destination airport]
Date of flight [Flight date]
PIR reference [PIR reference]
Booking reference [Booking reference]
Bag tag number [Bag tag number]
Dear Sir or Madam,
My checked bag on flight [Flight number] was not delivered when I landed
at [Final destination airport] on [Date you landed], and I was given
Property Irregularity Report reference [PIR reference]. The bag has still
not been delivered. It has now been missing [Days missing] days, and you
declared it lost on [Date declared lost].
Under Article 17(3) of the Montreal Convention 1999, where the carrier
admits the loss of checked baggage, or the baggage has not arrived at the
expiration of 21 days after the date on which it ought to have arrived, I
am entitled to enforce the rights which flow from the contract of
carriage. Article 17(2) makes the carrier liable for the loss of checked
baggage.
I claim for the bag and its contents, itemised below, with proofs of
purchase or photographs enclosed where I have them:
[Item description] [Currency] [Item value]
[Item description] [Currency] [Item value]
[Item description] [Currency] [Item value]
Total claimed [Currency] [Total]
This claim is within the per-passenger limit in Article 22(2) as revised
with effect from 28 December 2024.
Please settle within 14 days to: [Payment details]. If you propose a
lower figure, please set out how it was calculated.
Yours faithfully,
[Signature]
[Your full name]
How to use it
- Send it in writing within 21 days of the date the bag should have arrived, even if the airline has not yet declared it lost.
- Itemise honestly. Realistic replacement values with receipts, bank records or photographs beat a round number.
- Delete the sentence that does not fit: the airline has admitted loss, or 21 days have simply passed.
- Attach the PIR, the bag tag, the boarding pass and your inventory as one file.
- Keep the claim open: if the bag turns up later, the claim becomes a delay claim instead.
Write inside 21 days, whatever the airline calls it. Article 31(3) requires a written complaint within 21 days for delayed baggage, and Article 31(4) bars an action where none was made. A bag that never arrives starts as a delay and only becomes a loss at day 21 under Article 17(3), so a letter sent inside that window is valid either way. You then have two years from arrival to sue (Article 35).
Is the limit per bag or per passenger?
Per passenger. 1,519 SDR is the ceiling for everything the airline destroyed, lost, damaged or delayed for one traveller, not per suitcase. The only way past it is a special declaration of interest in delivery made at check-in with a supplementary fee paid, under Article 22(2) — after the flight it is too late.
Will the airline pay what the contents cost me?
Rarely in full. Carriers usually apply depreciation to used items and often exclude jewellery, electronics, cash and documents under their conditions of carriage. List everything, price it as replacement cost, and ask them to justify each reduction in writing. Household or travel insurance may cover the gap between their offer and the true loss.
Do the 7-day and 21-day windows apply to loss too?
Article 31 sets 7 days for damage and 21 days for delay, and says nothing separately about loss, because a missing bag is treated as delayed until Article 17(3) converts it. That is why the safe course is a written complaint within 21 days of the date the bag ought to have arrived. See the delayed baggage letter for the costs you can claim while you wait.
The limits, the SDR and the two-year suit deadline are explained in the Montreal Convention baggage guide. On a US domestic itinerary the Convention does not apply — see US passenger rights. If the airline refuses, escalate.