Baggage Knowledge
How much an airline actually owes you for a lost, damaged or delayed bag
Knowing how many kilograms you're allowed to check is a different question from knowing what an airline owes you when that bag is lost, damaged or arrives late. The second question has a specific legal answer on most international flights: the Montreal Convention 1999.
MC99 is in force in more than 130 countries and sets a hard cap on baggage liability, reviewed every five years for inflation. The current cap, effective 28 December 2024, is 1,519 Special Drawing Rights per passenger — a unit of account, not a fixed dollar figure.
- MC99 caps international baggage liability at 1,519 SDR per passenger, effective 28 December 2024 — roughly USD 2,000.
- The cap is a ceiling, not an automatic payout: you must prove the actual value lost or damaged, up to that limit.
- Loss, damage and delay of your bag all share one combined 1,519 SDR cap, not three separate maximums.
- You can exceed the cap only with a paid excess-valuation declaration at check-in, or proven wilful misconduct by the carrier.
What is the Montreal Convention, and does it apply to my flight?
The Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99) is the treaty that governs an international air carrier's liability for baggage, delay and injury. It has replaced the older 1929 Warsaw Convention system in the more than 130 countries that are party to it.
It applies to "international carriage" as MC99 defines it: broadly, carriage where the departure and destination are in two different states party to the Convention, or in one state party with an agreed stopping place in another state.
A purely domestic flight within a single country generally is not covered by MC99 at all — that falls under the country's own domestic law instead, which may set a different limit or none.
How much am I actually owed if my checked bag is lost?
Article 17 of MC99 makes the airline liable for destruction, loss or damage of checked baggage, and Article 22 sets the ceiling on that liability. As of 28 December 2024, that ceiling is 1,519 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger.
SDR is an IMF-defined unit of account, not any single national currency, chosen precisely so the limit doesn't erode differently depending on which currency you're paid in. Using a rough conversion of 1 SDR to about 1.34 USD, 1,519 SDR works out to roughly USD 2,000 — an approximation that moves with exchange rates, not a fixed figure.
Crucially, that number is a cap, not a guaranteed payout. You must prove the actual value of what was lost or damaged, up to that cap; the airline is not obliged to hand you the full SDR limit for a bag with modest contents.
Is delay treated differently from loss and damage?
Article 17 also covers damage caused by delay of baggage, not just outright loss or destruction. Delay, damage and loss all draw from the same combined 1,519 SDR cap per passenger — it is one pot, not a separate limit for each outcome.
That combined baggage cap is separate from Article 22(1)'s limit for delay of the passenger themselves — inconvenience and costs from your own travel being delayed — which is a different, higher figure: 6,303 SDR as of the same 28 December 2024 revision. Don't confuse the two; one is about your bag, the other is about you.
Where the numbers come from, and why they change
Article 22 of MC99 sets liability limits expressed in SDR rather than in any single currency. Article 24 requires ICAO to review and revise those limits every five years to keep pace with inflation, rather than leaving a 1999 figure to quietly lose real value for decades.
The original 2003 limits were 1,000 SDR for baggage destruction, loss, damage or delay, and 4,150 SDR for delay of the passenger. Revised periodically since under ICAO's five-year review cycle, they now stand at 1,519 SDR and 6,303 SDR respectively — roughly 52% above the 2003 baggage limit, with the December 2024 step alone adding about 17.9% over the immediately preceding 2019 level.
That increase is confirmed by ICAO's own revision document and corroborated by the UK's 2025 statutory instrument implementing the same change, plus aviation-law summaries reporting the identical figures.
Converting SDR into a number you can picture
SDR is the legally binding unit, and it is worth understanding why: a fixed dollar or euro figure would drift out of step with a fixed SDR figure every time exchange rates moved, effectively changing the real value of the protection depending on which currency a claim happened to be settled in.
For everyday reference, 1 SDR is roughly 1.34 USD as of the 2024/2025 period, putting the 1,519 SDR baggage cap at approximately USD 2,000. Treat that dollar figure as a moving approximation, not the actual legal number — the SDR value is what a claim is actually measured against.
| Liability limit | SDR value | Approximate USD (at ~1.34 USD/SDR) |
|---|---|---|
| Baggage loss, damage or delay (Article 22, para. 2) | 1,519 SDR | ≈ USD 2,000 |
| Delay of the passenger (Article 22, para. 1) | 6,303 SDR | ≈ USD 8,450 |
When the cap can be exceeded
The 1,519 SDR figure is a ceiling, not an unbreakable wall. MC99 allows it to be exceeded in two narrow situations.
First, Article 22 lets a passenger make a "special declaration of interest" at check-in and pay a supplementary fee for excess valuation, raising the effective limit for that specific bag above the standard cap.
Second, the cap can fall away entirely if the damage resulted from the carrier's own wilful misconduct — a very high legal bar that is rarely met in ordinary lost- or damaged-bag disputes.
- Check whether you declared a higher value and paid a supplementary fee at check-in; if so, your effective cap may be higher than 1,519 SDR.
- Keep receipts or other proof of value for checked items — the cap only tells you the ceiling, not what you'll actually recover without evidence.
- Confirm your itinerary is genuinely "international carriage" under MC99's definition before assuming this cap applies; a purely domestic flight follows domestic law instead.
- Remember loss, damage and delay share one combined cap per passenger, so don't expect three separate maximums to stack.
FAQ
Does the airline automatically pay me the full 1,519 SDR if my bag is lost?
No. The SDR figure is a cap on liability, not an automatic payout. You must show the actual value of what was lost or damaged, up to that cap; a bag with modest contents will typically be compensated for its proven value, not the full ceiling.
What exactly is an SDR, and why not just quote dollars?
A Special Drawing Right is an IMF-defined unit of account, not tied to any single currency. MC99 uses it so the liability limit holds a consistent real value across all 130-plus member states, instead of eroding differently depending on local exchange-rate movements.
Is a delayed bag covered the same way as a lost one?
Yes, both are covered under the same Article 17 baggage provision and draw against the same 1,519 SDR per-passenger cap. Delay of the bag itself is a different figure from delay of the passenger, which has its own higher 6,303 SDR limit.
Can I ever get more than 1,519 SDR for a lost or damaged bag?
Yes, in two situations: if you made a special declaration of interest and paid a supplementary fee for excess valuation at check-in, or if the loss or damage was caused by the carrier's own wilful misconduct, which is a high bar rarely met.
Does this limit apply to a domestic flight within my own country?
Generally no. MC99 applies to international carriage as the Convention defines it — departure and destination in two different member states, or one member state with an agreed stopping place elsewhere. A purely domestic flight typically falls under that country's own domestic law instead.
Sources
- ICAO: 2024 Revised Limits of Liability Under the Montreal Convention of 1999 (checked 2026-08-25)
- ICAO: International air travel liability limits set to increase, enhancing customer compensation (news release) (checked 2026-08-25)
This article explains the Montreal Convention 1999's baggage liability limits — what they cover and how they're calculated — and does not cover baggage allowance (how many kilograms or pieces you may check), which is a separate topic. It is explanatory, not a claims-filing guide or a substitute for an airline's own claims process.
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Mubboo Flights Editorial · Reviewed by mubboo-editorial-review (2026-08-25)