Travel can be a lot of fun but if your bags are lost or stolen or your luggage is delayed for a significant amount of time, it can be a bad start to the trip. Before you travel, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with baggage insurance, which is offered on travel insurance policies and on premium travel credit cards.

How often does luggage get lost? According to LuggageHero, an airline's chances of losing your bag are slim – just 0.4% in 2021. And if that happens, the airline is responsible for compensating you for your lost bags and contents. But they may have different liability limits than separate insurance, and there are plenty of other ways luggage can disappear after you leave the airport.

"Baggage insurance" is a general term that encompasses two key benefits: baggage loss and baggage delay. Here’s what you need to know about baggage insurance and how to get it.

How does baggage insurance work?

Baggage insurance can generally be divided into two broad categories: Baggage loss and baggage delay.

Suppose you arrive at baggage claim to get your two pieces of luggage, but they are nowhere to be found. You file a lost report with the airline and head to your Airbnb. However, when you arrive, you find that it doesn’t have many toiletries or even a spare toothbrush. On the third day, one of your pieces of luggage arrives but the other one is lost.

If you purchased a travel insurance policy (or have a premium travel card) that offers baggage insurance benefits, the baggage delay coverage will reimburse you for the purchase of essential items such as a toothbrush, toiletries, change of clothes, etc. for each of the days that you didn’t have your belongings.

Because you only received one of your pieces of luggage, baggage loss coverage will reimburse you for the missing piece, along with the contents up to a specific dollar amount. If you have valuables in your lost luggage, it's likely that they are covered by your homeowners insurance policy, so you’d want to check with that company before seeking reimbursement from the travel insurance provider, which limits the amount you can claim for the high-end items.