AirHelp is the biggest name in air passenger compensation, and for a cancelled or long-delayed flight under the European rules it is often the right call. Baggage is a different claim under different rules, and that is all BagBack does. The trade is straightforward: AirHelp handles everything and keeps 35%; BagBack prepares everything, you stay the claimant, and it keeps 25%.
See what your airline owes you → Your figures and your dates in a couple of minutes. No card needed to see the number.
| BagBack | AirHelp | |
|---|---|---|
| To start | $0: no card, you sign a one-paragraph authorisation; nothing is charged | $0 |
| The fee | 25% of what the airline pays, or $49 flat | 35% of the compensation, as published; more if the case goes to court |
| On a $1,800 recovery | You keep $1,350 | You keep $1,170 |
| What it covers | Lost, delayed and damaged bags on flights to, from and within the United States, under the Montreal Convention and the DOT rules | Flight delay, cancellation and denied boarding compensation first; baggage is not its core product |
| Who deals with the airline | You, in your own name, from your own claim address. The airline pays you directly | AirHelp, on your behalf; the airline pays AirHelp, which passes on your share |
| Seeing what you are owed | At no cost, before any payment: the amount, the limit, the deadlines and the draft letter | A free eligibility check |
| What happens after it is sent | Replies filed and classified in your case, follow-ups on schedule, the DOT complaint drafted if the airline stalls | AirHelp runs the case; you wait for the outcome |
| Scale | A small, independent service by one person in New York | 28 million passengers, 13+ years, hundreds of thousands of public reviews |
On a $500 delayed-bag claim, AirHelp’s 35% is $175 and BagBack’s 25% is $125, so you keep $325 against $375. On a $1,200 recovery: $420 against $300, you keep $780 against $900. On a $2,081 international lost-bag claim at the Convention limit: $728 against $520, you keep $1,353 against $1,561. The airline pays the same amount in every case; the fee decides who keeps it.
With AirHelp you assign the claim and it pursues the airline in its own name, which is why it can take a case to court without you. With BagBack you remain the claimant: the letter goes in your name from your own claim address, the airline pays you directly, and the fee is worked out from the airline’s settlement letter, which your case receives. Nothing is signed away.
AirHelp figures are from its own public pages when we checked, September 2026. If something has changed, tell us and we will correct it.
Choose AirHelp if your problem is the flight, not the bag: a cancellation, a long delay or denied boarding, especially under the European rules, where it has done this for years and you want none of the work. Choose BagBack if the problem is the bag, you want to keep 75% instead of 65%, and you are willing to paste a prepared letter into the airline’s form.
Build your claim on BagBack → $0 to start, 25% when the airline pays. Or $49 flat.
Its published product is compensation for delayed, cancelled and overbooked flights. Baggage claims run under different rules (the Montreal Convention internationally, the DOT rules within the United States) and are what BagBack is built for.
AirHelp takes the claim over and runs it, including legal action where needed, and that is what the 35% funds. BagBack prepares the claim and tracks the replies, but you remain the claimant and the airline pays you directly, so there is much less to fund.
Where the airline takes email, nothing: the letter goes from your claim address in your name. Where the airline only takes its own web form, you paste the prepared text into it, a few minutes, and the replies still come back to your case.