How Travel Insurance Can Help With Lost Luggage
By Graham S Doyle 
Believe it or not, an average of one in every 150 people will not arrive at their destination along with their luggage when they travel! This can be frustrating for the person whose belongings have gone astray, especially if they are only away for a night or two. Although approximately 85 per cent of these bags are recovered and sent back to the rightful owner within 48 hours, this may not be of any comfort if you are only away for one or two nights and urgently require the contents of your bags.
Some bags are never recovered as they could get stolen or even taken my mistake by some other passenger. Imagine if you were one of the 15 per cent who never gets their luggage back! Although an airline will pay compensation to you if your bag is lost or delayed for a lengthy time, you are more likely to receive a more satisfying compensation amount from an insurance company.
A delayed bag is usually classed as any luggage which has been missing for 21 days or less. In these circumstances the airline will probably agree to cover an amount each day in order for you to purchase toiletries or underwear. You would most probably have to purchase these yourself and keep the receipts for claiming back these expenses at a later date. Your insurance company would usually give you an immediate payout of between 50 and 75 pounds for the same purchases.
If a bag is missing for longer than 21 days, it is usually deemed to be permanently missing and you should be compensated accordingly. The maximum amount which is usually compensated by an airline to those whose bags have gone missing is 800 pounds. By having a good travel plan in place you may be compensated up to 200 pounds if your bags have been delayed for up to 48 hours and if they are missing permanently you could receive between 1500 and 2000 pounds which is considerably more than what you would get without travel insurance.
So if you are thinking of taking a trip, you should consider taking out suitable travel insurance and make sure that it covers you for lost luggage. This is even more important for those who are taking more than one airplane to get to their destination as statistics show that the incidences of lost luggage are considerably higher for holidays where connecting flights are involved.
Always be sure to check exactly what your policy covers with your insurer.