Damaged or delayed baggage: is a PIR enough to make a claim?

A baggage report does not settle every request

Portugal’s ANAC recommends reporting before leaving the airport, retaining the documents and also making a written complaint to the operating carrier. In the published TAP procedure consulted, a missing-baggage report receives a PIR reference used for tracing; the airline distinguishes it from a written complaint. This illustrates one procedure, not a universal instruction for every carrier.

Inês keeps two references: one for tracing her suitcase and one for the request she made about expenses. Clara does not say that every document called a PIR is legally worthless. She asks Inês to read its content and establish whether the intended complaint was actually delivered through the stated channel. A case number does not, by itself, identify the request received by the airline.

Sources: ANAC — Press release 03/2026, 24 June 2026, arrival section on lost or damaged baggage; read 2026-11-01 ↗ · TAP Air Portugal — Baggage problems, sections on missing-baggage reports, PIR and written complaints; read 2026-11-01 ↗

Damage and delay: establish the correct date

For damaged checked baggage, Article 31 of the Montreal Convention requires a complaint immediately after discovery, within seven days of receipt at the latest. For delay, the limit is twenty-one days after the baggage is placed at your disposal. The complaint must be written; Article 52 defines calendar days. This explanation concerns the Montreal regime: establish its application to the particular itinerary.

Do not wait until the deadline to start. Record when the bag was delivered or made available, the damage observed and when it was reported. If the bag arrives several days later, do not replace the availability date with the original flight date. If it never arrives, do not invent a receipt date to apply a damage rule; seek guidance about loss.

Sources: Montreal Convention 1999 — text hosted by IATA, complete Articles 1, 31, 35 and 52; read 2026-11-01 ↗

Evidence for each communication and expense

In the story, Inês keeps the baggage tag, PIR record, message containing her request and proof of dispatch. In a separate folder, she keeps receipts for purchases she considered necessary and explains why she made them. For a student on a limited budget, recording small expenses matters; it does not establish that every cost is payable or that a fixed sum is due.

Article 31 provides consequences for failing to complain in time, with an exception for fraud by the carrier. The period for bringing court proceedings is a separate issue governed by Article 35. Do not assume that an informal conversation or waiting for a reply preserves every right; seek competent support promptly if a deadline, refusal or dispute is involved.

Sources: Montreal Convention 1999 — text hosted by IATA, complete Articles 1, 31, 35 and 52; read 2026-11-01 ↗

What if you also have Travel insurance?

Notification to an insurer should not be treated as proof that a complaint was made to the carrier, or vice versa. Check your policy contact and procedure, provide the requested records and disclose payments or replies already received. Clara helps Inês prepare one chronology with a column for each organisation, rather than forwarding an unexplained bundle of documents.

For a known incident, use policy support and the channels in your documents. To prepare a future trip, select Travel under Request a quote at RMACHADO and explain the baggage protection you want to assess. A new request does not retrospectively cover the problem. Do not post baggage tags, boarding passes, delivery addresses or case references in comments.