If you have not received your baggage by the time the baggage reclaim has closed, please report this immediately. At most airports it is best to do this online and also at the baggage tracing office.

Once you have reported your delayed baggage, you will receive a written confirmation by e-mail with a reference number (PIR number, e.g. ZRHLX12345). We recommend that you remain at the airport until your details have been transmitted successfully and you have received a reference number. Please retain this together with your flight documents, in particular your boarding pass and the baggage receipt. Your baggage will be sent on and delivered to you as quickly as possible. You can access the current status of your delayed baggage report at any time on the baggage status page.

Make sure that you also subscribe to baggage status updates when you create a delayed baggage report so you receive these directly via e-mail. If you do not receive any baggage status updates, you can also activate these later on the baggage status page.

You can check the progress in tracing your baggage online using your reference number (PIR number, e.g. ZRHLX12345). You can also amend your contact details. It’s especially important that you amend them here if the delivery address is incorrect or has changed. We need this to deliver your baggage to you.

If you are unable to get the information you require using the link provided or you cannot amend your details, you will find a contact telephone number on the written confirmation receipt of your delayed baggage report. (You will receive the written confirmation of your delayed baggage report from the baggage tracing office or attached to the confirmation e-mail once you have reported your delayed baggage online.)

At certain times of the year, such as during the peak travel season, there may be delays with delivery. However, we will make every effort to ensure speedy processing and ask for your understanding.

In the rare case that your baggage cannot be found within five days of reporting the delay, we will require a detailed description of your baggage and its contents to initiate a detailed search. The information you provide will help us find your baggage among the bags that have not yet been identified and we can forward it to you as quickly as possible.

Please complete the list of contents on our baggage status page to do so. You will be able to access this automatically five days after reporting your delayed baggage.

If your baggage arrives late at your destination, you can purchase essential items such as toiletries and clothes, and submit the receipts for a refund. Please keep all the receipts to support your claim later. After you have reported your delayed baggage (at the airport or online), please apply for a refund of proven costs by using this refund application form.

Important:

• We recommend that you carry valuables such as jewellery, money or medicines in your hand baggage.
• You are obliged to minimise any expenses for the purchase of replacement items in the event of a baggage delay (“duty to mitigate damages”). SWISS will contribute to the costs subject to proportionality.
• Expenses for replacement purchases after your arrival back home will also be considered for a refund. Please note that you as the passenger are especially obliged to minimise any claims here. Expenses for replacement purchases that can be assumed to be available at your home will not be refunded.
• If your baggage is delayed on your return flight or arrives late at your usual place of residence, the costs of replacement clothing and toiletries cannot be refunded.
  
• Items that you can continue to use (e.g. clothes) will be refunded at a rate of 50%, while toiletries or single-use items will be refunded at a rate of 100%*.

* Exceptions apply to the USA and Canada due to local legislation (US DOT and CTA).

You can apply for a refund of the expenses for replacement items within 2 years after your flight, providing you have reported your baggage as delayed.

You are entitled to compensation for the loss of your bag providing you have reported your baggage as delayed (at the airport or online), completed the contents list on the baggage status page and your baggage has been delayed for more than 21 days. After you have completed the contents list for your delayed baggage, a targeted search will be carried out in the baggage system for bags with the same or similar details. You will be informed immediately if a positive match is found. If you are not contacted, this unfortunately means that we do not have any positive news about the whereabouts of your bag. In this very rare case your bag is deemed legally lost and SWISS will contact you for compensation 21 to 30 days after you have reported your delayed baggage.

Your delay report will remain active in the system. Your bag will of course be delivered to you if it is subsequently found.

The maximum amount of compensation given for the total loss of your baggage is determined by the Montreal Convention.

Important:

• We recommend that you carry valuables such as jewellery, money or medicines in your hand baggage.
• You are responsible for your hand baggage.

The liability of airlines for travel baggage is regulated by law. Entitlement to compensation is granted according to the Montreal Convention. The compensation itself is specified in so-called Special Drawing Rights (SDR). Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) are an artificial accounting unit created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The maximum liability is 1,288 SDRs at present, which is currently equivalent to approx. EUR 1,500. This amount is subject to exchange rate fluctuations and therefore may change.

The Montreal Convention only applies if the following conditions are met:

The law applies both to domestic and international carriage between treaty states. For checked bags, the airline is liable for the delayed baggage, irrespective of fault. This right only applies if the delayed baggage report and the claim for compensation are submitted within the deadlines specified in the treaty.