Emirates damaged baggage: how to claim

The seven-day rule, and the report behind it

Damage to checked baggage must be complained about in writing within seven days of the day the bag was placed in your hands — not seven days from the flight date, and not the twenty-one days that apply to a bag returned late.

Raise a Property Irregularity Report at the baggage desk in the arrivals hall before you leave, and keep the file reference: it is the airline's own record that something was wrong at the point of delivery, but it is not itself the written claim. Follow it up in writing through Emirates' feedback and complaints channel within the seven days, quoting that reference — the PIR mechanics and the full set of baggage deadlines are covered in their own guide.

If you only discover the damage at home

This happens constantly: the bag looks fine on the belt at Gatwick, and the split seam or sheared wheel mount only appears when you unpack. You have not lost the claim, but you have lost the easy part of it.

Write within seven days of collecting the bag, and say plainly when you collected it and when you noticed the damage. Keep the broken parts, the bag tag and the boarding pass, and where you can, take the case to a baggage desk at the airport you flew into so that it can still be inspected physically. The usual objection is that the damage could have happened after delivery, and what answers it is a short, consistent timeline plus photographs.

Photographs that carry weight

Photograph the bag tag and the damage in the same frame. A close-up of a cracked corner proves a cracked corner; a cracked corner beside the barcoded tag showing your name, the flight and the date proves that this bag came off that flight. Also capture the whole case from several angles, the interior if contents are affected, the brand and model label, and the purchase receipt or the card statement line for it.

Keep the damaged item until the claim is settled. Airlines and their appointed repairers frequently ask to inspect or collect it, and disposing of it early is treated as a failure to allow assessment.

Repair, replacement and depreciation

The Montreal regime compensates proved loss up to the ceiling. It is not a fixed-sum payment like Article 7 compensation under EU261, and it is not a refund of your fare.

Repair comes first. If the case can be economically repaired, expect an offer of repair through an appointed repairer, or reimbursement against an independent written quote.

Replacement comes second, and it is where most disputes live. If the case is beyond repair, carriers generally pay depreciated value rather than the price on the receipt: a four-year-old suitcase bought for GBP 260 may be assessed at a fraction of that. You can argue the depreciation rate, but a new-for-old settlement is not yours as of right.

Consequential losses — a taxi to a repair shop, an emergency replacement bought mid-trip — are recoverable in principle as proved damages, with receipts, and count against the same ceiling.

What airline conditions of carriage commonly exclude

Airline conditions of carriage generally carve out categories of damage, and the wording that decides your claim is the wording in force for your ticket. Read Emirates' delayed and damaged baggage page and its published conditions of carriage before you argue, because these terms change. Across the industry the recurring carve-outs are:

• Minor cosmetic damage. Scratches, scuffs, dents, soiling and marks from normal handling.
• Protruding parts. Wheels, feet, handles, straps, zip pulls and external pockets, often treated as wear, particularly on soft-sided cases.
• Pre-existing wear and manufacturing defects. A seam already repaired once is an obvious target for refusal, and Article 17(2) of the Convention itself excludes damage resulting from the inherent defect or quality of the baggage.
• Fragile and valuable items packed in checked baggage. Jewellery, cash, electronics, cameras, medication, keys, documents, artwork and business samples. Carry them in the cabin.
• Items packed against the rules, or overpacking that caused the case to burst.

An exclusion is a contract term, not a legal ceiling. Article 26 renders void any provision tending to relieve the carrier of liability or to fix a lower limit than the Convention lays down, so a carve-out that goes beyond defining what counts as damage can be contested. But a scuffed corner on a five-year-old case is not worth your seven days.

Missing contents and pilferage

A bag that arrives intact but lighter is not a separate category and is not covered by the valuables carve-out above: treat a shortage of contents as damage and report it in writing within seven days of receiving the bag, itemised. List each missing item with its age, its purchase price and the sum claimed, note whether the case was locked and whether the zip or a security seal had been interfered with, and photograph the bag as delivered before you disturb it further.

Wheelchairs and mobility equipment

A damaged wheelchair or other mobility aid is not an ordinary suitcase, and the exclusions list above is drafted for suitcases rather than for equipment somebody depends on. Regulation (EC) 1107/2006 on the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air adds duties that baggage rules alone do not contain: Annex II lists the temporary replacement of damaged or lost mobility equipment, albeit not necessarily on a like-for-like basis, among the assistance an air carrier is to provide. It operates at airports in the EU, and its reach on a Dubai departure depends on the direction of travel and on whether the operating carrier is a Community carrier; the UK applies its own retained version.

Whether the Montreal per-passenger ceiling caps a claim for a destroyed powered chair is contested rather than settled. Such equipment routinely costs several times 1,519 SDR, the point has been argued before national courts and regulators without a uniform European answer, and you should not assume either that the cap plainly applies or that it plainly does not. In practice: report at the airport, ask for a temporary replacement straight away, keep the specification, prescription and purchase evidence, describe the item in the written claim as a mobility aid rather than as baggage, and consider the special declaration described below where the value clearly exceeds the ceiling.

Contents, the case, and the 1,519 SDR ceiling

Damage to what is inside — a crushed instrument, a ruined suit, a smashed bottle that soaked the rest — is claimable on the same footing as damage to the case. Itemise it: each affected item with its age, its purchase price and the sum claimed, with receipts or photographs attached.

The approximately 1,519 SDR ceiling applies per passenger, and covers the bag and the contents together rather than each separately. For a family flying Barcelona to Dubai on one booking, each ticketed passenger has their own ceiling, which matters when a shared case is destroyed: the loss can be apportioned across the passengers whose belongings were in it.

If you are carrying something worth more than the ceiling, the fix is at check-in, not afterwards. A special declaration of interest in delivery, made when you hand the bag over and accompanied by any supplementary sum the carrier requires, raises the limit to the declared figure. Made after the flight, it is worthless. For genuinely high-value goods, standalone insurance is usually cheaper and broader.

Both directions, and the two-year bar

This is where baggage differs sharply from delay and cancellation claims. Emirates is a UAE carrier, not a Community carrier or a UK air carrier, so Regulation (EC) 261/2004 reaches your departure from Vienna, Rome or Frankfurt and UK261 reaches your departure from Manchester or Birmingham, but neither regime covers the Dubai-to-Europe leg home. Montreal liability for baggage has no such asymmetry: it applies to the Dubai departure exactly as it applies to the European one.

The outer limit is two years from the date of arrival, or from the date the aircraft should have arrived, to bring court proceedings, and correspondence does not extend it. If Emirates has not settled as that date approaches, issue proceedings. Where you can sue is easier here than for a compensation claim: Article 33 of the Montreal Convention supplies its own jurisdiction rules rather than leaving you to the European rules that operate against airlines domiciled in a Member State, and the courts of the place of destination are among the options it gives you. The European Small Claims Procedure suits modest cross-border sums.

FAQ

I found the damage three weeks after landing. Is it hopeless?

The seven-day window has passed and the airline is entitled to rely on that. Write anyway, explain precisely when you collected and unpacked the bag, and send your photographs; carriers sometimes settle late claims as goodwill, particularly where a PIR was raised at the airport. Do not expect it as a right, and do not let the two-year limit run while you wait.

Does EU261 pay anything for a broken suitcase?

No. EU261 deals with compensation, reimbursement and care such as meals and hotels. Damaged baggage sits entirely under the Montreal Convention, which is why the Dubai return leg is covered for baggage even though it is outside 261 for compensation.

My bag was delayed and came back damaged. Which deadline applies?

Both, separately. Twenty-one days for the delay-related losses, seven days for the damage, and both run from when the bag was actually delivered to you rather than from the flight date. Send one written claim covering both well inside the shorter window.

Emirates offered a repair but the case is my only one and I travel next week.

Ask for the repair to be authorised at a repairer you choose, or for reimbursement against a written quote, and say why timing matters. If it cannot be repaired in time and you must buy a replacement, keep the receipt and the damaged case, and claim the replacement as proved loss within the same ceiling.

Can I claim for the laptop that was crushed inside?

It is difficult, but not automatically hopeless. Airlines commonly refuse claims for electronics, valuables and fragile items packed in checked baggage by relying on their conditions of carriage, and that is a contract term rather than a bar written into the Convention, so it can be contested — Article 26 voids provisions that relieve the carrier of Convention liability. The practical odds are poor and the process is slow, so travel insurance, a card benefit or a home contents policy with away-from-home cover is usually the faster route, but do not drop the claim on the airline's say-so alone.

Related Emirates guides

• Emirates delayed or lost baggage
• Emirates baggage PIR and deadlines
• Which Emirates flights are covered
• Dubai to Europe: why 261 does not apply
• How to claim compensation from Emirates
• Emirates compensation claim rejected
• Emirates will not pay: escalation

Sources

• Montreal Convention 1999 (ICAO): https://www.icao.int/secretariat/legal/List%20of%20Parties/Mtl99_EN.pdf
• Regulation (EC) 1107/2006, rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air, EUR-Lex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32006R1107
• Emirates, delayed or damaged baggage: https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/before-you-fly/baggage/delayed-damaged-baggage/
• Emirates, feedback and complaints form: https://www.emirates.com/english/help/forms/complaint/
• Regulation (EC) 261/2004, EUR-Lex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261
• UK Civil Aviation Authority, resolving travel problems: https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers/resolving-travel-problems/
• European Small Claims Procedure: https://e-justice.europa.eu/

This guide reflects the legal position as of 2026 and is general information, not legal advice; the 2026 EU261 reform is a proposal and not yet in force.