EU judges confirm maximum claim for lost luggage

European judges confirmed today the maximum claim for lost airline luggage in Europe is €1,134.66.

They threw out a claim for more from a man who claimed extra for “non-material” losses for goods with emotional rather than cash value and for the personal upset.

The EU applies rules set by the Montreal Convention, under which airline liability for loss, damage or delay of luggage is limited to the equivalent of €1,134.66, unless the passenger declares in advance that the baggage is valuable and pays a supplement.

But Axel Walz, travelling from Barcelona to Porto with Spanish low-cost airline Clickair, claimed compensation of €3,200 when his luggage went missing.

His claim was made up of €2,700 for the value of the luggage and €500 for “immaterial harm” – the loss of items of emotional value to him and worth little in cash terms.

The Spanish judge hearing the case asked the European Court of Justice whether the limit fixed by the Montreal Convention covers both material and immaterial damage or whether it was possible to claim more “immaterial” loss.

Today the EU judges confirmed that the damages limit of €1,134.66 “is absolute and includes both material and non-material damage”.

That limit applies “unless a passenger has made, at the time when the checked baggage was handed over to the carrier, a special declaration of interest in delivery at destination and has paid a supplementary sum”.

The Montreal Convention established a system of strict liability for air carriers, said the judges, adding: “This limitation of compensation enables passengers to be compensated easily and swiftly, yet without imposing a very heavy burden of damages on air carriers, which would be difficult to determine and to calculate, and would be liable to undermine, and even paralyse, the economic activity of those carriers.”