Baggage didn't turn up on the belt? The first steps decide how quickly you get it back. A clear guide through the report, the deadlines, and your rights.
You’re standing at the baggage belt, it’s turning ever more slowly, and finally it stops — and your suitcase isn’t there. It’s unpleasant, but it isn’t a catastrophe. Lost baggage in the vast majority of cases is only delayed and comes back within days. What decides how quickly and how painlessly is exactly the first steps. Here’s what to do, in order.
Step 1: Don’t leave the airport before reporting
This is the most important rule and the most common mistake. Before you leave the baggage claim area, find the lost baggage desk — usually marked “Lost & Found” or at the ground handling services desk. The report must be made there, immediately.
If you leave without reporting and come back later, the process becomes much harder — it’s difficult to prove the baggage genuinely didn’t arrive on that flight.
Step 2: Make an official PIR report
At the desk they’ll draw up a PIR (Property Irregularity Report) — the official document for baggage irregularity. This is the key document everything downstream rests on. Check that it contains:
An accurate description of the baggage — colour, type, brand, distinguishing marks. Your reference number for the report (usually a combination of letters and digits). Contact details on which they’ll notify you. And an address to deliver the baggage to when it’s found.
Ask for a copy of the report with the reference number. Without it you have no evidence.
Step 3: Keep your documents
Don’t throw anything away. You’ll need:
The boarding pass from the flight. The baggage tag — that barcode sticker they attached at check-in, usually on the back of the boarding pass. And the receipts for essential items you’ll have to buy while without your baggage (more on that).
Step 4: Check your right to essential expenses
If you’re travelling (not at home) and the baggage is delayed, you have the right to buy essential items — basic hygiene, a change of clothes — and to claim reimbursement from the airline. Keep all receipts.
Don’t overdo it — this is about reasonable essentials, not a new wardrobe. And check the limit with the airline, because it varies.
What happens next
Most delayed suitcases are located in the system and delivered to the address on the report within a few days, often free of charge to your door. Track the status via the reference number — many airlines have online tracking.
If the baggage really is lost (usually considered lost after 21 days), the right to compensation for the contents kicks in, under international rules. Here accurate documentation of the value becomes important.
Damaged baggage — same logic, shorter deadline
If the baggage arrives damaged, the same principle applies: report immediately, at the airport, before you leave. The deadlines for reporting damage are even shorter than for lost baggage — don’t delay.
Where we come in
The hardest part of lost baggage isn’t the report — it’s what comes after: days of communication with the airline, often in a foreign language, with automated systems and slow replies. When you’ve bought a ticket through us, we take over that communication for you. We track the status, deal with the airline, and keep you informed — in Macedonian, without you hanging on foreign phone lines.
If baggage from a flight we issued is lost or delayed, call us as soon as you’ve made the report at the airport, and we take over from there.
Baggage rules and deadlines change and differ between airlines. For binding information, your airline’s terms are authoritative.