How to write a baggage claim letter an airline will pay

The six things a written claim has to contain, and the two that make airlines settle rather than stall.

The phone call and the airport report are not the claim. The written claim is. It needs to reach the airline within the deadline for your trip, and it needs to contain enough that the airline cannot bounce it back for “more information”.

• Your name, the flight, the date, and the file reference from the airport report.
• What happened: lost, delayed and returned on a date, damaged, or items missing.
• An itemized list of contents with what you paid, how old each item is, and a replacement cost where it is higher.
• Interim purchases with dates and amounts, receipts attached.
• The amount demanded, the legal basis in one sentence (Montreal Convention or the DOT rule), and the bag fee if it applies.
• A deadline for their answer and a statement that you want money, not vouchers or miles.

The two things that change how the airline responds: citing the rule that applies with the correct current limit, and arguing your list up to the cap rather than accepting the airline’s depreciation table. A claim that shows its arithmetic gets handled by someone who can approve it.

Build your letter → Free. Takes about ten minutes.