The sheet to print
Lost or damaged bag: the sheet to keep
Seven reflexes, in the order they serve, from the empty belt to the calendar for action. Each carries the text that grounds it.
File EU 2027/97
This page is made to be printed: when printing, the whole screen around it disappears.
Law as verified onJuly 29, 2026
- 01
Report before leaving, write before sleeping
Baggage desk on arrival, then a written complaint to the airline as soon as possible. The date of your writing is your first exhibit, and no app notification replaces it.
Annex, section “Complaints on baggage” · Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended, Annex (information notice), section “Complaints on baggage” · eur-lex.europa.eu - 02
Choose your recipient: ticket or flight, both are valid
If the flight was operated by a carrier other than the one on your ticket, your complaint may be addressed to either. The name or code on the ticket designates the contracting carrier: often the simplest door.
Annex, section “Liability of contracting and actual carriers” · Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended, Annex (information notice), section “Liability of contracting and actual carriers” · eur-lex.europa.eu - 03
On the bag's return, two clocks: seven days, 21 days
According to the Annex to the regulation: damage to checked baggage, written complaint within seven days; delay, within 21 days. Both counted from the moment the bag is back in your hands. One letter with two parts covers both.
Annex, section “Complaints on baggage” · Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended, Annex (information notice), section “Complaints on baggage” · eur-lex.europa.eu - 04
Keep every receipt from the wait
The carrier is liable for the damage of the delay, unless it proves, and the proof is its own to bring, that all reasonable measures were taken. Your essential purchases, dated by their receipts, quantify the damage.
Annex, section “Baggage delays” · Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended, Annex (information notice), section “Baggage delays” · eur-lex.europa.eu - 05
Do not mix hold and cabin
Checked baggage: liability even without fault, unless the bag was defective. Unchecked baggage: liability only if the fault is the airline's. Two regimes, two files.
Annex, section “Destruction, loss or damage to baggage” · Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended, Annex (information notice), section “Destruction, loss or damage to baggage” · eur-lex.europa.eu - 06
Valuables: special declaration at check-in, or the cabin
Liability is capped. The special declaration, at the latest at check-in and against a fee, raises the limit for your bag. The current figure of the ceiling is read on the official page, not here.
Annex, section “Higher limits for baggage” · Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended, Annex (information notice), section “Higher limits for baggage” · eur-lex.europa.eu - 07
Note your horizon: two years
Any action in court to claim damages must be brought within two years from the date of arrival of the aircraft, or from the date on which it ought to have arrived. Deadlines in commercial letters do not shorten that one.
Annex, section “Time limit for action” · Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended, Annex (information notice), section “Time limit for action” · eur-lex.europa.eu
General information on the European baseline, not legal advice on your case. Independent educational site, unconnected to the institutions of the European Union. The redress links in this file point only to official bodies.
Sources checked on July 29, 2026. · https://depleindroit.odersa.org/en/fiches/le-bagage-perdu · Content licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What the law owes you
Every right with its amount or its deadline, the extract of the official text it rests on, and its address.
Liability governed by a text, not by a gesture
The liability of a Community air carrier in respect of passengers and their baggage is governed by all provisions of the Montreal Convention relevant to such liability. The measure of what you are owed lives there, not in a goodwill gesture.
The official text · Article 3(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01997R2027-20020530“1. The liability of a Community air carrier in respect of passengers and their baggage shall be governed by all provisions of the Montreal Convention relevant to such liability.”
The written complaint, as soon as possible
If the baggage is damaged, delayed, lost or destroyed, the complaint is made in writing to the carrier, as soon as possible. An app notification is not a complaint: the trace that counts is the one you write and date.
The official text · Annex, section “Complaints on baggage”
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01997R2027-20020530“If the baggage is damaged, delayed, lost or destroyed, the passenger must write and complain to the air carrier as soon as possible. In the case of damage to checked baggage, the passenger must write and complain within seven days, and in the case of delay within 21 days, in both cases from the date on which the baggage was placed at the passenger's disposal.”
Two short windows, counted from the bag's return
7 and 21 days
According to the official EU page: in writing to the airline within 7 days for lost or damaged luggage, or within 21 days of receiving your luggage if it was delayed. There is no standard EU-wide form: a clear letter is enough.
The official text · Section “How to complain”
Your Europe · European Union · https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm“If you want to file a claim for lost or damaged luggage, you should do it in writing to the airline within 7 days, or within 21 days of receiving your luggage if it was delayed. There is no standard EU-wide form.”
The damage from the delay gets repaired
In case of baggage delay, the carrier is liable for damage unless it took all reasonable measures to avoid it, or it was impossible to take such measures. The receipts of your essential purchases date and quantify what the wait cost you.
The official text · Annex, section “Baggage delays”
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01997R2027-20020530“In case of baggage delay, the air carrier is liable for damage unless it took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage or it was impossible to take such measures.”
The hold binds even without fault
For checked baggage, the carrier is liable even if not at fault, unless the baggage was defective. For unchecked baggage, in the cabin, it is liable only if at fault.
The official text · Annex, section “Destruction, loss or damage to baggage”
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01997R2027-20020530“In the case of checked baggage, it is liable even if not at fault, unless the baggage was defective. In the case of unchecked baggage, the carrier is liable only if at fault.”
A ceiling, and the written tool to raise it
Liability is limited, and the text provides the tool: a special declaration, at the latest at check-in and against a supplementary fee, raises the limit for your bag. The current amount of the ceiling is checked on the official page: this file deliberately displays no figure in its place.
The official text · Annex, section “Higher limits for baggage”
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01997R2027-20020530“A passenger can benefit from a higher liability limit by making a special declaration at the latest at check-in and by paying a supplementary fee.”
Two airlines, two valid doors
If the carrier actually performing the flight is not the contracting carrier, the complaint or the claim may be addressed to either one. The name or code indicated on the ticket designates the contracting carrier.
The official text · Annex, section “Liability of contracting and actual carriers”
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01997R2027-20020530“If the air carrier actually performing the flight is not the same as the contracting air carrier, the passenger has the right to address a complaint or to make a claim for damages against either. If the name or code of an air carrier is indicated on the ticket, that air carrier is the contracting air carrier.”
Two years to go to court
Any action in court to claim damages must be brought within two years from the date of arrival of the aircraft, or from the date on which it ought to have arrived. Deadlines invented by a commercial letter do not replace the text's.
The official text · Annex, section “Time limit for action”
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01997R2027-20020530“Any action in court to claim damages must be brought within two years from the date of arrival of the aircraft, or from the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived.”
This site is educational and independent: it is not an official site of the European Union, and this verdict is not legal advice on your case. The deadlines quoted are copied from the official text or the official page, whose link appears under each right; the numeric liability cap is deliberately not displayed, and the canon note explains why.
File EU 2027/97
The items in this file
Every item has its own page. The situation is played here; what you keep, what you send and what you re-read live next door.