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what to do if your luggage and bags go missing

Does travel insurance cover lost, stolen or delayed baggage?

Claims arising from torrorism or acts of war are excluded from many travel insurance policies, this exclusion is also likely to include threats of terrorism, so if your loss is directly related to acts of terrrorism your insurer may not pay up. Check that your policy covers you for loss of baggage as on a lot of policies this cover is not standard and you usually have to pay extra for baggage cover.

Also check to see if your bags are covered on your home contents policy by a claim for loss of ‘goods away from home’.

My bags have not arrived with me on holiday.

Do immediately report the missing bags to your carrier or agent or tour rep. Show your luggage receipt at the lost luggage desk and ask to fill out a Property Irregularity Report (PIR). You will need this later to help you complete any compensation claim, so also ask for a copy. If your lucky you may also be offered some cash for essential purchases at this stage of the proceedings.

Do keep all receipts an send copies of everything when you send in your claim. You should write your claim and you should do it within 21 days for delayed luggage and after 21 days for lost luggage.

 

My luggage has been damaged or accessed during transit.

If this happened between check-in and the time you picked the item up at the arrival airport then take up your claim with the airline by making your claim in writing within 7 days. Also it is a good idea to take pictures of any damage caused use your camera phone or your holiday camera and make a report to the local police if anything has been stolen.

How can I make sure my bags arrives on time to their destination?

It’s always important to label everything clearly. Label them both inside and out with your destination address and a contact phone number and remember to take any items of value or medication as hand luggage.

Someone picked up my bag by mistake, the airport says it’s not to blame.

It’s very easy nowadays for people to pickup the wrong bag, as a lot of luggage looks the same, especially black suitcases, so put a mark on your case on both sides or use stickers. This problem is not really the airlines fault but do report the problem to the airlines ground agent. Hopefully in most cases the bag will be brought back by the offending passenger and delivered to your holiday address by the ariline. But whatever you do don’t take the other passengers luggage through immigration as you don’t know what could be inside, if your bag does not make an appearance then it’s time to make a claim on your insurance.

The baggage handlers are on strike will the airline or my insurers compensate me for the inconvenience?

If your baggage is delayed because of a strike you can expect some compensation from the carrier for the inconvenience at the beginning of the holiday but rarely at the end of the holiday. Most insurance policies will cover you for for delayed baggage, but only if the start of the strike action was declared after you had made your travel arrangements.

Related Sites of Interest

Columbus Travel Insurance
Direct Line
Go Travel Insurance
Travel Insurance Online
Post Office Travel Insurance
Essential Travel
TheIdol Travel Insurance
Marks and Spencer Travel Insurance
HolidayExtras