Your case arrives on the belt with one wheel gone and a crack running up the corner. You carry it to the baggage service desk, and the agent points at a laminated sign above the counter: wheels, straps, zippers, handles and protruding parts are excluded from liability. You leave with a damaged suitcase and a customer service email address.
In the United States, that sign is not the law, and the regulator has said so in writing.
Short answer: two different caps, depending on where you fly
On a journey between two countries that have both adopted the Montreal Convention, an airline's liability for checked baggage is capped at 1,519 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger. ICAO raised that figure from 1,288 SDR with effect from 28 December 2024, as part of its regular review. On a flight within the United States on a large aircraft, the cap is set by the Department of Transportation and, under 14 CFR 254.4, cannot be lower than $4,700 per passenger — a number last adjusted in October 2024 and re-examined every two years against the Consumer Price Index.
Both figures are ceilings rather than entitlements. What you recover depends on what you can prove the bag was worth and whether you filed the right report inside the right window. A 2019 carbon-fibre case and a 2015 hard-shell bought on sale do not produce the same settlement, even with identical damage.
Where airlines get it wrong
The laminated sign has a history. In September 2015, the DOT's Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings inspected US and foreign carrier operations at sixteen US airports. Its finding, published that November, was blunt: carriers routinely excluded from liability damage to specific parts of checked baggage — wheels, straps, zippers, handles, protruding parts — often posted signs stating that they categorically refused to compensate for such items, and in some cases discouraged or refused to accept reports of the damage at all.
The agency's notice does not permit that practice. Its practical message to passengers is narrower and more useful than “everything is covered”: an airline cannot dismiss a claim simply because the damage is to a wheel. What it can argue is that a particular mark is ordinary wear. The gap between the two is the whole argument.
Broken is not the same as worn. A wheel housing that has separated from the shell, a telescopic handle that no longer latches, a zipper that has pulled away from the tape — those are damage. A tread worn down after fifty flights, or a scuff on a corner bumper, is what the bag is expected to look like. Photograph the part that failed, not the bag as a whole, and shoot it while it is still attached; once it is in your workshop it is much harder to show what happened.
What actually reduces a settlement
- Age and condition. Liability is for provable damages, which in practice means current value rather than what you paid. Receipts help; so does a photograph of the bag in good condition before the trip.
- Fragile contents. Airlines are not liable for the glass bottle inside unless you declared it, and often not then.
- Valuables and documents. Cameras, laptops, jewellery and paperwork belong in the cabin. If they were in the hold, expect a refusal.
- Prohibited items. Anything the carrier's rules excluded from checked baggage weakens the claim for everything else in the bag.
- Pre-existing damage. A crack that was already there when you checked in is the fastest way to lose an otherwise valid claim — which is why the bag-drop photo matters more than the arrival photo.
Three deadlines that decide the outcome
| What happened | Deadline | Counted from |
|---|---|---|
| Baggage damaged | 7 days | The date you received the bag |
| Baggage delayed | 21 days | The date the bag was placed at your disposal |
| Taking the case to court | 2 years | The date of arrival, or of the flight |
The seven-day figure is the one that ends claims. It is a written-complaint deadline, not a phone-call deadline, so an email with the reference number attached is enough — but the clock starts when you walk out with the bag, not when you find time to deal with it. If the bag is missing for three weeks and then turns up damaged, the damage clock restarts from the day it reached you.
What to do at the airport, in order
- Photograph the bag at check-in. Ten seconds, four angles, the tag visible. This is the only evidence that pre-existing damage was not there.
- Do not leave the arrivals area without reporting it. The report has a name: a Property Irregularity Report, filed at the airline's baggage desk or its airport agent. A PIR is the written record that starts every later claim.
- Keep the damaged part and the bag. Airlines sometimes ask to inspect it, and repair quotes are easier when you still have the assembly.
- Get a repair quote in writing. A workshop estimate for the wheel set or handle is the most persuasive valuation you can hand over, because it is a number with a supplier behind it.
- Then send the written claim inside seven days, quoting the PIR number, attaching the photos and the quote, and stating the amount you are asking for.
Repair or claim?
Worth knowing before you spend three weeks on an email thread: wheels and handles are the two most commonly replaced parts on a suitcase — they are the components behind most returns — and on a case with a replaceable wheel set the parts cost far less than the argument. If the damage is one wheel assembly or one handle, a local repair often ends the problem the same week for a fraction of the claim ceiling. If the shell itself is cracked through the corner — the structural corner, not the bumper — the case is usually finished, and that is the scenario worth pursuing with the airline.
That split also tells you what to look for in your next case. A replaceable wheel set turns a total loss into a consumable; a riveted assembly does not, which is one of the differences covered in our component breakdown of wheels, handles and locks.
Frequently asked questions
Can an airline refuse a claim because the damage is to a wheel?
Not categorically. The DOT has stated that carriers may not exclude wheels, handles, straps, zippers or protruding parts from liability as a class, and may not refuse to accept reports of such damage. The airline can still argue that a specific mark is ordinary wear rather than damage — which is a question about the individual part, not about the category.
Does travel insurance replace this process?
It usually supplements it rather than replacing it. Most policies pay after the carrier's liability is established, and many ask for the PIR and the airline's response before they will look at the claim. File with the airline first.
What if the airline offers a voucher instead of cash?
You can decline it. Liability limits are monetary, and accepting a voucher is generally treated as settling the claim at that value. If the case is worth more than the voucher, ask for the amount in writing and keep the option open.
How long does a claim take?
Varies widely by carrier, so treat the seven-day filing deadline as the only fixed point and keep copies of every message. The two-year court window exists for the cases that do not resolve.
Where this article stops
Everything above covers checked baggage on scheduled passenger flights. It does not cover cargo, charter arrangements with separate terms, or the added rules that apply to mobility equipment and declared excess-value fees — those depend on the specific contract and are worth checking directly with the carrier. Airline practices and national rules change; the figures and deadlines here were verified on 7 October 2026 against the current eCFR text and the ICAO-revised Montreal limit, and the airline's own conditions of carriage remain the document that governs your ticket.