Lost Luggage: What to Do in the First 24 Hours and How Much You're Entitled to Receive

1. Loss vs. delay: two words, two different rules

TL;DRLoss and delay aren't legal synonyms. Loss is when the bag never shows up and nobody knows where it is; delay is when it exists, is located, but arrives after you do. The Montreal Convention covers both under the same baggage article, but with different claim deadlines: seven days and twenty-one days.

At the irregularity desk, staff often label any bag that didn't come off the belt as "lost," without distinguishing between the two situations. That's a mistake that costs the passenger money. Legally, the difference matters because it changes the claim deadline and, in practice, the type of evidence you need to gather.

Delay means the bag exists: it stayed at another airport, boarded the wrong flight, got stuck during a tight connection. The airline knows where it is and usually delivers it within a few hours or a few days. In that case, the passenger is entitled to reimbursement for expenses made necessary by the delay (clothing, a toothbrush, a charger), not the full value of the bag.

Loss is a different category: the bag disappears from the system, nobody can track it, and after a period without location the case is treated as a permanent loss. Here the calculation changes: the airline must compensate for the value of the lost contents, within the treaty's cap.

The mistake most passengers make is accepting the first verbal explanation at the counter without understanding which of the two situations is actually happening, and without noting the exact date it started. That date is what determines when the seven- or twenty-one-day deadlines expire, and letting a deadline pass without a formal claim weakens any request that follows.

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2. What to do in the first 24 hours: from the carousel to the counter

TL;DRThe first 24 hours decide whether you get full compensation or end up depending on the airline's goodwill. Before leaving the airport: file the PIR, photograph the baggage tag and the check-in receipt, note the protocol number, and keep your boarding pass. Without these four items, the claim becomes your word against theirs.

The carousel stops, the bag doesn't show up, and everyone's instinct is to run after the nearest staff member. Wrong. The first step happens while you're still in the arrivals area, before customs: find the specific counter for your airline (not the airport's general information desk) and file the PIR, the acronym detailed in the next section.

Before leaving that counter, four things need to be in hand. First, the PIR protocol number, ideally written down separately in addition to whatever's on the paper they hand you. Second, a clear photo of the baggage tag attached to your boarding pass (that barcode sticker the check-in agent attaches when you check a bag). Third, the check-in receipt, usually a tear-off tag given at that moment. Fourth, the complete boarding pass, with flight number and date.

After that, the passenger should explicitly ask about the expected delivery timeline and whether the airline offers any emergency kit (toiletry bag, t-shirt) on the spot, which many airports provide without requiring anything in return. Accepting the kit doesn't waive any later rights.

The rule of thumb worth its weight in gold: never accept a "final" compensation amount improvised at the counter. That amount is almost always lower than the legal cap, and signing a release form there can block any future claim.

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3. The PIR: the document that decides whether you get anything at all

TL;DRThe PIR (Property Irregularity Report) is civil aviation's incident report: without it, there's no claims process. Fill it out while still in the arrivals area, before customs, with the flight number, a description of the bag, and the approximate value of its contents. Ask for a printed or emailed copy on the spot, don't rely solely on a verbal protocol.

PIR stands for Property Irregularity Report, and it's the document every airline in the world uses to log lost, damaged, or delayed baggage. Without it, no formal claim moves forward, because it's the piece of evidence proving you reported the problem within the deadline and in the right place.

The form asks for a physical description of the bag (color, brand, size, wheels or not), the flight number, contact details for later delivery, and in many cases an estimate of the contents' value. It's worth being precise: "navy-blue Samsonite suitcase with a red ribbon on the handle" identifies far better than "regular black suitcase," which is the description 80% of passengers give.

After filling it out, the system generates a protocol number (some airlines use a three-letter-plus-numbers format inherited from the global baggage tracking system). That number is what lets you follow the case online afterward. Ask the agent to email a copy right there, or take a photo of the screen or paper before leaving the counter. Many passengers leave with only the agent's word that "it's registered," and later can't prove the PIR ever existed.

One detail that often goes unnoticed: the PIR is also the document travel insurance (when you have it) will require to process any supplementary reimbursement. Without it, even paid insurance covers nothing.

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4. What your bag is worth: the SDR cap and why it isn't fixed in local currency

TL;DRThe Montreal Convention doesn't fix the compensation cap in dollars, euros, or any national currency: it fixes it in Special Drawing Rights (SDR), an International Monetary Fund unit that floats daily. The current cap is 1,288 SDR, somewhere between US$1,670 and US$1,740 as of September 2026. The airline converts at the exchange rate on the day of payment, not the day of the flight.

Here's the point this article is built around: almost nobody knows the baggage compensation cap isn't a fixed number in local currency. The 1999 Montreal Convention, a treaty Brazil has incorporated and that its aviation authority extends to domestic flights as well, sets the limit in Special Drawing Rights, internationally known as SDR.

SDR is a currency basket managed by the International Monetary Fund, made up of the dollar, euro, yen, pound, and yuan in fixed proportions, with a rate published daily. It's not a cryptocurrency or a theoretical index: it's the official unit of account used in international transport treaties precisely because it doesn't suffer from a single national currency's devaluation.

The current cap, revised by the International Civil Aviation Organization in December 2019 and still in force, is 1,288 SDR per passenger for destruction, damage, loss, or delay of checked baggage. Converting at typical 2026 rates (SDR usually trades between US$1.30 and US$1.35), that comes out to a range of roughly US$1,670 to US$1,740.

The airline is required to convert at the exchange rate on the day of payment, not the day of the flight or the day the PIR was filed. In a scenario of a rising exchange rate, that favors the passenger who waits for the proper process instead of accepting a fixed amount offered on the spot.

Concept	Reference value	Legal basis
Baggage cap (damage, loss, or delay)	1,288 SDR (~US$1,670 to US$1,740 in 2026)	Montreal Convention, Art. 22
Deadline to claim damage/loss	7 calendar days	Montreal Convention, Art. 31
Deadline to claim delay	21 calendar days	Montreal Convention, Art. 31
Domestic flight in Brazil	Same cap, via Resolution 400	ANAC (Brazil's aviation authority)

5. The 21 days that turn a delay into a permanent loss

TL;DRNo international treaty cites the number 21 as the deadline to declare a permanent loss, but it's the airline industry's standard practice: after three weeks without locating the bag, it stops being a delay and becomes a loss. That changes the calculation, which then considers the full value of the lost items rather than the cost of temporary replacements.

There's a common confusion between the claim deadline (the 21 days under Article 31, which is how long the passenger has to formally file a delay complaint) and the deadline to declare a loss (which isn't written into the Montreal Convention, but is consolidated industry practice, followed by virtually every airline operating international flights).

In practice, here's what happens: the bag stays under active tracking in the global baggage system for about three weeks. If it turns up during that window, even on another continent, it's forwarded to the passenger and the case is resolved as a delay, with reimbursement of documented expenses. If more than twenty-one days pass without it being located, the system changes its status to permanent loss, and the passenger can formally file for compensation for the full value of the declared contents, within the 1,288 SDR cap.

This detail changes the passenger's strategy: during the first 21 days, it's worth staying in active contact with the airline, keeping every emergency purchase receipt, and not signing any release form. After 21 days, the focus shifts to gathering proof of the lost contents' value (purchase receipts for the items, photos taken before the trip, packing lists if you kept any).

Worth noting: nothing stops a passenger from formally filing a loss claim before the 21 days are up, if the airline already signals it has no further lead on the bag's whereabouts. The three-week window is the system's tolerance limit, not an obligation for the passenger to wait passively.

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6. Tracking with an AirTag: turning GPS into legal evidence

TL;DRAn AirTag, Tile, or similar Bluetooth tracker inside a checked bag shows its real location, often different from what the airline's system reports. Screenshots with date, time, and coordinates become documentary evidence in an administrative claim or a Small Claims Court case. It doesn't sink the airline's argument on its own, but it contradicts the claim that the bag has been located.

Putting a Bluetooth tracker inside a checked bag has stopped being a paranoid traveler's trick and become common practice among frequent flyers, for a reason that's legal as much as practical: the AirTag generates a location history with a date and time the airline doesn't control and can't edit.

The most common use as evidence is when the airline's system reports "baggage in transit" or "located, being shipped," while the AirTag shows the bag has been sitting for days at the same airport, sometimes in the same terminal the passenger departed from. That kind of contradiction, documented with a dated screenshot, is the kind of evidence Small Claims Courts in Brazil accept without questioning its authenticity, because the manufacturer's own app generates the log.

One expectation worth setting straight: the AirTag doesn't replace the PIR or the legal deadlines, and on its own it doesn't force the airline to pay faster. What it does is weaken the airline's defense in a potential dispute, because it contradicts generic claims like "the baggage is being processed" when it's actually sitting forgotten, or was sent to the wrong destination.

One technical detail worth considering before checking a bag: most airlines allow a tracker with a lithium coin-cell battery inside checked luggage, but several require the transmission mode to be disabled during the flight, per aircraft safety regulations. It's worth checking the specific airline's policy before boarding, because a tracker left on improperly can cause a delay in retrieving the bag instead of helping.

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7. Domestic flights in Brazil: Resolution 400 and consumer protection law

TL;DRWithin Brazil, ANAC applied the same liability regime from the Montreal Convention to domestic aviation through Resolution 400 of 2016, including the SDR cap. Brazil's Consumer Protection Code still applies in parallel, especially for emotional distress claims, which have no cap set by international treaty and are assessed case by case.

There's a widespread belief that the Montreal Convention only applies to international flights, and that within Brazil "only consumer protection law" applies. That's not quite right. ANAC's Resolution 400 of 2016 extended the same Montreal Convention liability regime to domestic flights, including the SDR compensation cap for baggage.

That means a bag lost on a domestic flight follows, in practice, the same 1,288 SDR cap that would apply on an international flight. The relevant difference between the two scenarios isn't the maximum value, but jurisdiction: domestic flight claims fall under Brazilian jurisdiction without dispute over which law applies, while international flights sometimes involve debate over which country has authority.

Brazil's Consumer Protection Code doesn't disappear from this arrangement. Brazil's Supreme Court has already ruled that the international treaty's cap prevails over consumer law for material damages (the bag and its contents), but that applies only to material damages. Emotional distress (the disruption, the missed event, the compromised business trip) has no cap set by any treaty and continues to be assessed case by case through consumer protection law, in Small Claims Court.

In practice, a Brazilian passenger whose bag was lost has two possible, complementary claims: material compensation, capped at the SDR limit, and compensation for emotional distress, with no fixed cap, assessed by the judge based on wait time and documented harm. Accepting only the shopping voucher the airline offers at the counter means giving up both, usually without realizing it.

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8. What the airline is required to pay while you wait

TL;DRWhile the bag is missing, the airline must cover essential expenses: clothing, toiletries, and in some cases rental of specific equipment, like ski gear or baby supplies. The typical amount runs between US$50 and US$200 per day of delay, always against a receipt, and it counts toward the same 1,288 SDR cap.

While the bag is in transit or missing, the passenger isn't left with no rights just because it hasn't yet become a "permanent loss." The airline's obligation during the delay period is to cover reasonable essential expenses, understood as what an ordinary person would need to buy to continue the trip with dignity: a change of clothes, basic toiletries, and in specific situations, equipment rental (rented ski gear because the ski bag didn't arrive, for example, or diapers and formula for someone traveling with a baby).

There's no universal fixed amount for this reimbursement: each airline typically has an internal policy with a daily range, which in practice runs between US$50 and US$200 per day, depending on the route and accumulated wait time. The point nobody mentions: this reimbursement for essential expenses counts toward the same 1,288 SDR cap, it isn't an extra amount added on top of it. In other words, someone who spends heavily on emergency purchases reduces what's left over for a potential permanent-loss claim, if the case goes that direction.

The practical, no-middle-ground recommendation: buy only what's essential, keep every receipt (physical or digital), and avoid luxury or high-value purchases justified by "urgency." A passenger who buys a US$400 designer jacket because "the bag disappeared" runs a real risk of having the reimbursement questioned or denied, because the standard required is reasonableness, not unrestricted replacement.

It's worth explicitly asking the airline, at the time of the PIR, what its essential-expense reimbursement policy is and what daily limit applies. That avoids discovering later, receipt already in hand, that the amount spent exceeded what would be accepted.

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9. When it's worth going to court: emotional distress and Small Claims Court

TL;DRThe 1,288 SDR cap covers only material damage: the bag and what was inside it. Emotional distress is a separate claim, with no fixed cap, and in Brazil typically ranges from R$2,000 to R$10,000 in Small Claims Court, depending on wait time and documented harm, such as a missed commitment or essential medication lost in the bag.

Court is worth it when the airline's administrative response is clearly below what the law guarantees, whether because they offered a fixed amount well below the cap, or because they simply stopped responding after the PIR. The most efficient path for a Brazilian passenger, with no attorney's fees required, is Small Claims Court, which handles cases up to 40 times the minimum wage, a range that covers practically any baggage case.

The emotional distress claim is where the real difference in value lies. Unlike material damage (the bag and contents, capped at the SDR limit), emotional distress has no cap set by any treaty, and the judge assesses it case by case, weighing factors like how long the bag was missing, whether it contained an essential item (medication, formal wear for a specific event, work equipment), and whether the airline showed neglect in its communication. Well-documented cases, with proof of concrete harm beyond the material loss, typically result in awards between R$2,000 and R$10,000, and can exceed that when there's serious, documented harm, like missing a wedding or an entire business trip.

The most common tactical mistake for someone who files without preparing is showing up to the hearing with nothing but their word against the airline's, no PIR, no photos, no emergency expense receipts. Without that documentary foundation, judges tend to set more conservative amounts, because there's no way to assess the real extent of the disruption.

It's worth saying plainly: the shopping voucher offered at the airport counter rarely reflects what the law guarantees, and signing that rushed release form is, in practice, giving up a right worth considerably more.