Short answer: in Europe, losing a piece of luggage is not governed by the same law depending on the mode of transport. On a plane, you are protected by the Montreal Convention: the airline is strictly liable, the compensation ceiling reaches 1,288 SDR (around €1,500), and you must file a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) before leaving the airport, then submit a written claim within 7 days (damaged luggage) or 21 days (delayed luggage). On a train, there is no automatic liability: your bags remain in your care and the operator owes nothing unless fault is proven — on the other hand, lost property services (SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB, Trenitalia) are effective and recover a significant share of items, usually held between 3 months and 3 years depending on the country. On a coach, Flixbus and BlaBlaCar Bus apply contractually limited liability (often around €1,000, on production of supporting documents) for luggage in the hold, and none for what you leave in the cabin. The practical rule: photograph your luggage before departure, slip a tag with your email inside, and report the loss the same day — the window for redress closes fast.
The scene plays out every day in European stations: a traveller hurries off a train in Munich, realises thirty seconds too late that their backpack is still in the luggage rack, and watches the train pull away. What happens next depends entirely on the country, the operator and — above all — how quickly the loss is reported.
Here is the complete playbook, mode by mode, with the real deadlines, the right people to contact and the remedies that actually succeed.
Why luggage law differs radically from one mode to another
It all stems from a simple legal distinction that almost nobody knows about until they need it: checked luggage is entrusted to the carrier, whereas hand luggage remains in your care.
- On a plane, your hold suitcase comes under the airline's responsibility from the moment you check in. It is a deposit contract: either the airline gives it back, or it pays up.
- On a train, there is no luggage check-in on virtually any European service. Your belongings travel with you, under your supervision. European Regulation (EU) 2021/782 on rail passengers' rights covers delays, assistance and accessibility, but creates no obligation as to results regarding your personal luggage.
- On a coach, Regulation (EU) 181/2011 provides for compensation in the event of loss or damage to luggage in an accident, but not for a simple oversight or a mix-up in the hold: in those cases, the company's contract of carriage applies.
The direct consequence: train and bus travellers have to rely on lost property services, not on compensation. Air travellers, by contrast, have a genuinely enforceable right — provided they meet very short deadlines.
Plane: the procedure that makes all the difference (and the deadlines you can't miss)
Step 1 — The PIR, before you leave the baggage area
The Property Irregularity Report is the founding document of any case. It is filed at the baggage desk of the arrival airport, before you go through the exit. Without a PIR, airlines very often take the view that your luggage was handed over intact, and the case becomes an uphill battle.
What you need to hand:
- your boarding pass and the baggage tag stub (the little barcode sticker attached to the back of the boarding pass);
- a precise description: brand, colour, material, distinguishing features, valuable contents;
- your local address and a phone number where you can be reached locally.
Step 2 — Deadlines for written claims
The Montreal Convention, which governs international air transport, sets mandatory deadlines:
| Situation | Deadline for written claim | Starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Damaged luggage | 7 days | Receipt of the luggage |
| Delayed luggage | 21 days | Luggage made available |
| Permanently lost luggage | 21 days after the 21-day period | Luggage deemed lost after 21 days |
| Legal action | 2 years | Scheduled arrival date |
Luggage that has not reappeared after 21 days is officially considered lost. That is the point at which genuine compensation becomes available.
Step 3 — How much you can actually get
The ceiling is 1,288 SDR (special drawing rights, the IMF's unit of account), i.e. around €1,500 at current rates. It is not a flat payment: it is a maximum, and the airline pays out against supporting documents. Hence the importance of keeping receipts for valuable items, or failing that, screenshots of online orders.
While you wait, most airlines reimburse essential purchases (clothing, toiletries) on production of receipts. Ryanair, easyJet, Air France, Lufthansa and ITA Airways all apply this principle, with varying daily caps. Keep every receipt.
The tip that changes everything: a simple Bluetooth tracker slipped into your suitcase lets you tell the airline where the bag is. Since 2025, several European carriers have officially accepted location sharing from tracking networks. A Bluetooth suitcase tracker costs about as much as an airport meal and turns a vague case into a precise claim.
If the airline doesn't reply
After two months with no satisfactory answer, refer the matter to the Médiateur du Tourisme et du Voyage (MTV) in France, or to the competent national authority in the country of departure. For flights departing from the EU, the DGAC (French civil aviation authority) also acts as a central point for complaints in France. These procedures are free of charge.
Train: forget compensation, play for speed
With trains, the good news lies elsewhere: recovery rates are high. European rail companies run structured, often centralised lost property platforms, and on-board staff check the carriages at the end of service.
The right moves within the hour
- Note the train number, the carriage and the seat. This is the most useful information: it allows cleaning staff at the terminus to target their search.
- Report it immediately on the operator's lost property platform, or at the ticket desk of the station where the train in question arrives.
- Call back the next day. Items often surface with a 24- to 48-hour lag, the time it takes for the train to be cleaned and the belongings to be sent to the collection centre.
Services by operator in 2026
| Operator | Service | Retention period | Return fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNCF (France) | SNCF lost property, online report + collection at the station | ~3 months depending on the type of item | Storage fee, a few euros; shipping at a charge |
| Deutsche Bahn (Germany) | DB Fundservice, centralised platform | Up to 6 months via the federal service | Search fee + shipping costs |
| ÖBB (Austria) | ÖBB Fundservice linked to the Austrian national register | Long retention (public register) | Moderate administrative fees |
| Trenitalia / Italo (Italy) | Oggetti smarriti, managed station by station | Variable, often 1 year at major stations | Low, collection in person |
| SBB/CFF (Switzerland) | SBB Fundservice, nationwide search | ~3 months | Search fee, return by post |
| NS (Netherlands) | Gevonden voorwerpen, entirely online | ~3 months | Home delivery at a charge |
In Austria, one detail is worth knowing: found items feed into a national register that can be searched online, which markedly increases the chances of recovering something handed in by another traveller rather than by staff.
What trains will never cover
No European rail operator compensates theft or forgotten items. If your bag disappears while you sleep on a Nightjet or a European Sleeper, the route to take is to file a police report with the railway police, then make a claim on your insurance — premium bank card cover often includes theft of luggage on public transport, though the caps are worth checking.
That is why regular night-train travellers almost all use a combination TSA padlock on the zip and an anti-theft luggage cable looped around a bunk upright. Two trivial accessories that make the difference between a peaceful night and a disastrous morning.
Coach: the weakest link
Long-distance buses combine two risks: a freely accessible hold at every intermediate stop, and connections where suitcases change vehicles.
What the companies provide for
- Flixbus: limited liability for luggage in the hold, a contractual ceiling of around €1,000 per bag against supporting documents, and no liability for items left in the cabin. Claims go through the dedicated customer service form, with your booking number.
- BlaBlaCar Bus: similar logic, mandatory online report, processing times of several weeks.
- ALSA, Eurolines, RegioJet: each carrier has its own general terms, often even more restrictive.
The three habits that prevent 90% of incidents
- Always label your bags. Most coach losses are not thefts but mix-ups: two identical black suitcases, a passenger in a rush at a night stop. A pack of personalised luggage tags solves the problem for a few euros.
- Photograph your suitcase as it is loaded, with the bus registration plate visible if possible. It is the most convincing piece of evidence in a claim.
- Never put in the hold: passport, laptop, medication, chargers, keys. The rule is simple — anything that would make the rest of the trip impossible stays with you.
Prevention, the only strategy that really pays
No procedure, however well handled, beats a suitcase that is never lost. Three habits are enough.
1. The inside tag
A card slipped inside the bag, with your name, an email address and an international phone number, is more effective than an outside tag — which gets torn off. It is through that card that most spontaneous returns happen, when a station employee opens the bag to identify it.
2. The photo inventory
Before every long trip, five minutes is all it takes: a photo of the closed bag, a photo of the contents laid out, and receipts for valuables saved in a cloud folder. In the event of a claim, this inventory turns a contestable estimate into a documented, costed case.
3. Spreading the risk
On a multimodal itinerary — a TGV to Milan, a Nightjet to Vienna, a low-cost flight home — spread things out: a cabin travel backpack holding the vital essentials, and the rest in the hold or the luggage rack. If the big bag vanishes, the trip goes on.
The special case of multimodal journeys
This is European law's blind spot. When a journey combines train, bus and plane with separate bookings, there is no overall liability: each carrier answers only for its own segment. If your suitcase is lost by an airline but the loss causes you to miss a separately booked train, that train is not compensable.
Since 2026, the European Commission has been working on a single multimodal ticket project intended to simplify journeys across Europe. If it comes to fruition, it should clarify the chain of liability when something goes wrong. For now, the only safeguard is contractual: book as a single through journey where possible, or take out travel insurance covering the whole trip.
Summary: your actions within 48 hours
| Timing | Plane | Train | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediately | PIR at the baggage desk | Note train no. + seat, report at the ticket desk | Tell the driver before they leave |
| Day +1 | Track the case online | Online lost property report | Online claim form |
| Day +7 | Written claim if damaged | Follow up with lost property service | Send supporting documents |
| Day +21 | Luggage deemed lost → compensation | — | — |
| Day +60 | Ombudsman / DGAC if no reply | — | Consumer ombudsman |
Key takeaways
Lost luggage is one of the few areas of European travel where knowing the procedure is literally worth money. On a plane, the law is on your side, but it expires quickly: the PIR at the airport and a written claim within the deadlines determine everything. On trains and buses, there is no right to compensation, only lost property logistics that must be triggered within the hour, with your train or booking number.
And in all three cases, the same truth holds: the travellers who get their belongings back are almost always the ones who labelled, photographed and reported quickly. Three free actions, for stakes that often exceed the price of the ticket.
Sources: Montreal Convention (1999); Regulation (EC) 889/2002; Regulation (EU) 2021/782 on rail passengers' rights and obligations; Regulation (EU) 181/2011 on the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport; general conditions of carriage of SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB, Flixbus and BlaBlaCar Bus; information from the DGAC and the Médiateur du Tourisme et du Voyage.
