JetBlue’s own deadlines, the amounts the law makes it pay, and the claim channels a person has checked against JetBlue’s pages.
Start your JetBlue claim now See the number first; the card comes later, if at all. No card needed to see the number.
A bag that never comes back is a loss claim, not an expense claim. JetBlue does not publish the day it treats a bag as lost; most US carriers give a written lost-bag determination after about 5 days of tracing, and on an international trip the Montreal Convention deems the bag lost after 21 days. Ask for the determination in writing. From that day the claim covers everything that was in the bag, at replacement cost, up to the limit the law sets: 1,519 SDR, about $2,081 per passenger, on an international trip, and at least $4,700 per passenger on a trip within the United States.
A typical checked bag’s contents come to $1,200 to $3,000 at today’s replacement cost. That is the engine’s planning band (estimate — your itemized claim sets the real number); your itemized list sets the real figure. What you bought while waiting and the bag fee come on top, and the fee does not count against the limit.
JetBlue asks for the written claim within 21 days. The law gives 2 years to sue on an international trip, but the claim that gets paid is the one sent in the first weeks, with the file reference, the itemized list and the receipts. When a delayed bag becomes a lost bag explains the switch.
Start your JetBlue lost-bag claim One tap, then your number. No card to see it.
A late bag is an expense claim: what you reasonably had to buy while it was missing, at the receipted amount, in full. Before any receipt is entered the engine plans $50 to $150 a day of essentials; your receipts set the figure, and the reason for each purchase (a wedding, a winter arrival, a week of meetings) is what turns a “clothing allowance” into full payment.
What JetBlue says. Read from JetBlue’s own baggage page on 2026-10-21: “Interim expenses: "Please purchase any essential and reasonable items you need while your baggage is delayed (for example: necessary clothing and toiletries)" and "It is very important to retain all original paid receipts for replaced items", uploaded through the online claim's customer portal.” (the page)
What the law says. On any flight to, from or within the United States, the Department of Transportation’s position is that arbitrary limits on reimbursing reasonable, verifiable, actual interim expenses violate Part 254 and are an unfair and deceptive practice. A flat daily allowance and a percentage rule are both arbitrary limits. The DOT has fined airlines for exactly that: Delta Air Lines $100,000 in 2010 for a pamphlet that capped delayed-bag expenses at a flat daily amount (order); Lufthansa $50,000 in 2011 for paying half the cost of clothing bought while a bag was delayed (order); Emirates $100,000 in 2011 for paying little or nothing towards the costs of a delayed bag (order). JetBlue may not do the same to you.
The clock. On an international trip the written claim for a delayed bag must reach JetBlue within 21 days of the day you got the bag back (Montreal Convention, article 31); JetBlue’s own window is 21 days. On a trip within the United States the law sets no claim deadline, but JetBlue’s contract of carriage does; the 21-day rule is the safe one on every trip.
The bag fee. Under the 2024 DOT refund rule the checked-bag fee is owed back automatically once a mishandled-bag report is filed and the bag is not delivered within 12 hours on a domestic flight, 15 hours on an international flight of up to 12 hours, or 30 hours on a longer one. It is paid on top of the expense claim.
Check your JetBlue deadlines and track the bag: free, no card, your dates by day.
Start your JetBlue delayed-bag claim One tap, then your number. No card to see it.
Report damage before you leave the airport if you can, with the bag in hand; JetBlue’s own window is within 4 hours. On an international trip the written claim must follow within 7 days of receiving the bag. Claim the repair, or the bag’s replacement when repair is not sensible, and anything inside that was damaged; keep the bag until the claim is settled.
Start your JetBlue damaged-bag claim One tap, then your number. No card to see it.
JetBlue flies both kinds of trip, so two limits apply.
The ceiling is set by law, not by the airline. On an international trip the Montreal Convention caps liability at 1,519 SDR per passenger, about $2,081. On a trip within the United States the DOT cap is $4,700 per passenger. What you actually recover is what you can show: contents at replacement cost plus what you had to buy while the bag was missing, and the bag fee refunded on top when the bag is late enough.
JetBlue’s own page states: “No liability figure on the help page (2026-09-14); Contract of Carriage 2026-06-01 ($4,700 per the earlier index) not re-checked”.
The Property Irregularity Report (PIR) is the report you make to JetBlue at the airport, at its baggage desk, before you leave the baggage hall; it gives you the ten-character file reference every later step needs. If you have already left, use JetBlue’s baggage page or phone line the same day. Under the Montreal Convention the written claim must then follow within 7 days for damage and 21 days for delay, counted from the day you get the bag back; JetBlue’s own windows below can be shorter.
The law sets the outer limits regardless: on international trips, a written claim within 7 days for damage and 21 days for delay (counted from the day you get the bag), a bag deemed lost after 21 days, and 2 years to sue. Read our plain-English guide to the Montreal Convention or the DOT rules for domestic trips.
Source: JetBlue’s baggage pages and contract of carriage.
Steps reflect the channels verified on this page. Start a case and the letter, the list and every form field come prepared for JetBlue.
International trip. A bag lost on a JetBlue flight into the United States with $2,745 of contents at replacement cost and $251 of clothes and toiletries bought while waiting: the Montreal Convention limit is $2,081 per passenger, so the letter claims $2,081 under the liability rule and adds the $75 bag fee on top, which the limit does not touch. Total demanded: $2,156, with the itemized schedule attached so JetBlue cannot argue the list down below the cap.
Trip within the United States. The same bag on a JetBlue domestic flight sits under the DOT rule instead: at least $4,700 per passenger, so the whole $2,996 is inside the limit and is claimed in full, plus the bag fee refunded under the 2024 refund rule if the bag was not delivered within 12 hours. Total demanded: $3,071.
Delayed three days, then delivered. Two changes of clothes, toiletries and a charger, about $290 with receipts, plus the bag fee once the delay passed 12 hours on a domestic flight or 15 hours on an international flight of up to 12 hours. JetBlue may not answer with a flat daily allowance; the DOT treats that as an unfair practice on any flight touching the United States.
The figures are the engine’s: the SDR limit at 1.37 US dollars per SDR, the DOT minimum since 22 January 2025. Enter your own trip and the estimate shows your numbers.
Read from JetBlue’s baggage pages on the day of the check:
Its rules bind you only where the law is silent. The first-report windows are real and worth meeting; anything that reads as a lower limit, a category exclusion or a depreciation table does not override the Montreal Convention on an international trip or the DOT minimum on a domestic one.
See your dates with JetBlue, what you can buy while you wait, and a link to JetBlue’s own bag-tracking page. Free, no card. Check my deadlines and track my bag
Report the bag before you leave the baggage hall and get the file reference: ten characters, airport code, airline code, five digits. The first-hour checklist walks you through it with JetBlue’s own window counting down.
What you had to buy while the bag was missing, at cost, up to the legal limit: about $2,081 per passenger (1,519 SDR) on an international trip, and up to $4,700 on a trip within the United States. Keep every receipt; the limit is a ceiling, not a payout.
At JetBlue’s baggage desk before you leave the airport: show the bag tag and boarding pass, describe the bag, give a delivery address, and take the ten-character file reference away with you. JetBlue’s own rule for a bag that did not arrive is within 4 hours. If you have already left, use the baggage page or phone line the same day; the written claim follows within 7 days for damage and 21 days for delay.
1,519 Special Drawing Rights per passenger, about $2,081 at 1.37 US dollars per SDR, in force since 28 December 2024. Some airline pages still print the old 1,288 SDR; a claim against JetBlue should cite the current figure.
JetBlue’s own rule is within 4 hours. Report before you leave the airport whenever you can; the file reference from that report is what the claim is built on.
Up to the legal cap for your trip: about $2,081 per passenger on an international trip, up to $4,700 within the United States. The amount depends on what was in the bag and what you can show you paid.
Through the channels listed on this page, which a person has checked against JetBlue’s own pages.
JetBlue’s own rule: the written claim within 21 days. The law on an international trip: 7 days from receiving a damaged bag, 21 days from receiving a delayed one, 2 years to sue, and a bag not delivered within 21 days is deemed lost. Within the United States the deadlines are JetBlue’s own, from its contract of carriage; the first report, within 4 hours, matters most.
Not on a flight to, from or within the United States. The DOT treats a flat daily allowance or a percentage rule as an arbitrary limit on reasonable, verifiable, actual interim expenses and has fined Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa and Emirates for doing it. Claim the receipted amount and say in one sentence why each purchase was needed.