Travel, Shipping & Moving Claims: The Complete Guide

By Plain Money Guide · Researched from official sources · Editorial standards

This is the complete guide to travel, shipping, and moving claims. If a company took your money to get you or your belongings from one place to another and something went wrong along the way, you are almost always entitled to something back. The problem is that every industry uses a different word for it, a different form, and a different deadline. An airline calls it a refund request. An airline's baggage desk calls it a property irregularity report. The Postal Service calls it an indemnity claim. A moving company calls it a claim for loss or damage. Underneath the vocabulary, the process is the same four steps every time: document what happened, file inside the window, name a dollar figure, and escalate when the first answer is no.

This page pulls the whole theme together in one place. Each section below explains one type of claim well enough that you can start today, then points to the detailed step-by-step article for that specific situation. Read the whole thing once and you will know which claim you actually have, roughly what it is worth, and how long you have to act.

Table of Contents

• What Travel, Shipping & Moving Claims Actually Covers
• Airline Cancellations: Why You Should Take the Refund, Not the Voucher
• Baggage: Delayed, Damaged, or Gone for Good
• Mail and Packages: Filing a USPS Claim
• Moving Companies: Damage, Loss, and the Valuation You Chose
• The Evidence File That Works for Every Claim Type
• Deadlines at a Glance
• When the Claim Comes Back Denied
• Where to Start Today
• Travel, Shipping & Moving Claims — Full Series
• Which Route Pays, and Which One Costs You

What Travel, Shipping & Moving Claims Actually Covers

These four claim types share a legal backbone. In each one, a business accepted your property or your fare and took on a duty to deliver. When it fails, federal rules, a contract of carriage, or a shipping tariff sets out what it owes you. That is very different from a customer service complaint. A complaint asks a company to be nice. A claim asks it to pay a specific amount it already agreed to be liable for, which is why claims that cite the right rule get paid far more often than emails that only express frustration.

The second thing these situations share is a hard clock. Every one of them has a filing deadline, and the deadlines are shorter than most people assume: 60 days from mailing for a USPS claim, nine months from delivery for an interstate move, 60 days from the statement date for a credit card dispute. Missing the window is the single most common reason an otherwise valid claim gets zero dollars. If you read nothing else here, read the deadline table near the end and start your paperwork before you finish researching.

The third shared feature is stacking. One incident can produce more than one source of money. A ruined trip can generate an airline refund, a credit card travel protection payout, a travel insurance claim, and a chargeback, and they are governed by separate rules. You cannot collect the same loss twice, but you can absolutely collect different pieces of the loss from different places, and most people only ever try one.

Airline Cancellations: Why You Should Take the Refund, Not the Voucher

When a U.S. airline cancels your flight or makes a significant change to it and you do not accept the alternative it offers, you are owed a refund to your original form of payment. Not a voucher. Not a travel credit with an expiration date. Cash back to the card you paid with. The U.S. Department of Transportation strengthened this in a rule requiring airlines to issue those refunds automatically and promptly, without you having to argue for them, and it applies to the ticket price plus the fees for services you paid for and did not receive, such as seat selection or checked bags.

In practice, airlines still steer passengers toward credits, because a credit keeps the money inside the airline. The rebooking screen offers a voucher with a bonus attached. The chat agent explains that a refund takes weeks while the credit is instant. Both statements can be true and both are still worse for you, because a voucher is only worth something if you fly that specific airline again before it expires. The move is to decline every alternative in writing, state that you are requesting a refund to the original form of payment under the DOT refund rule, and keep the confirmation.

Two details decide most of these cases. First, who canceled matters enormously: an airline cancellation triggers the refund right, while your own change of plans generally does not. Second, a "significant change" has a definition. Under the DOT refund rule that took effect in late 2024, it covers a departure or arrival time shift of more than 3 hours on a domestic flight or more than 6 hours on an international one, a change of the departure or arrival airport, an added connection, a downgrade in class of service, or a switch to a less accessible aircraft for a passenger with a disability. The same rule sets the payout clock: the refund must reach a credit card within 7 business days and other payment methods within 20 calendar days. Those were the standards as of August 2026, and because they get revised, read the current rule text at the DOT refunds page rather than relying on a screenshot from a forum.

For the full step-by-step, including the exact wording to use when an agent pushes a voucher and how to escalate to a DOT complaint or a credit card chargeback, see How to Get a Refund for a Canceled Flight (Not a Voucher).

Baggage: Delayed, Damaged, or Gone for Good

Baggage claims are won or lost in the first hour after you land. Before you leave the airport, go to the airline's baggage service office and file a report in person. You will get a file reference number, and that number is the spine of everything that follows. Filing later from home is possible with some carriers but it hands them an easy argument that the damage happened after you took possession. If the office is closed, document the closed counter and contact the airline the same day.

What you can recover depends on where you flew. On domestic U.S. itineraries, DOT caps airline liability for lost, damaged, or delayed baggage at a per-passenger figure written into 14 CFR 254.4, which DOT revisits for inflation every two years; it stood at $3,800 per passenger after the 2021 adjustment, so treat $3,800 as the floor and confirm the current number on the DOT baggage page before you decide what to ask for. On international itineraries, the Montreal Convention caps baggage liability at 1,519 Special Drawing Rights per passenger, the limit set in the revision effective December 28, 2024 and still in force as of August 2026. SDR is a basket currency, not dollars, so the payout moves with exchange rates; it has been worth roughly $2,000 in recent years, and the IMF publishes the daily conversion. Neither number is what the airline offers first. Both are what you can insist on.

Delay claims work differently from loss claims. While a bag is merely late, airlines reimburse reasonable, necessary interim expenses, meaning the clothes and toiletries you had to buy because your things were somewhere else. Keep every receipt, buy sensibly, and submit as you go. Separately, the DOT refund rule requires airlines to refund your checked bag fee when the bag is not delivered within 12 hours of arrival on a domestic flight, within 15 hours on an international itinerary of 12 hours or less, or within 30 hours on a longer international itinerary — money most passengers never claim. No federal rule fixes the day a bag becomes officially "lost"; each airline sets that point in its contract of carriage, and most land somewhere between 5 and 14 days. At that point the claim converts from expense reimbursement to a valuation of the contents, and you will need an itemized list with purchase dates and values.

Before you accept the airline's first offer, check whether your credit card or travel insurance carries baggage delay and baggage loss benefits, which often pay on top of the airline settlement. For the full step-by-step, including how to build the itemized contents list that actually gets paid, see How to File a Lost Luggage Claim (and Get Paid).

Mail and Packages: Filing a USPS Claim

A USPS claim is an insurance claim, and that one fact explains most of the confusion around it. The Postal Service pays out on the insurance attached to the shipment, not on the retail value of whatever was inside. As of August 2026, Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and Ground Advantage all include $100 of insurance automatically, and you can buy more at the counter. First-Class letters and many cheaper options include nothing at all unless you bought insurance separately. If there was no coverage on the label, there is generally no indemnity to collect, though you may still have a remedy against the seller or your credit card issuer.

The other trap is who is allowed to file. Either the sender or the addressee can submit a claim, but only one payment is issued, and you need proof of value plus evidence of insurance. Proof of value means a receipt, an invoice, a paid order confirmation, or a credit card statement line, not a screenshot of a similar item listed for sale. For damage claims, do not throw anything away: USPS may ask you to bring the item, the box, and all packaging to a Post Office for inspection, and discarding the packaging can end the claim on the spot.

Timing rules are unusually specific here, and they are tighter than they look. Damage and missing-contents claims must be filed no later than 60 days from the mailing date. A claim for a completely lost article has to wait out a period first, because the Postal Service will not treat an item as lost until enough time has passed: 7 days for Priority Mail Express, 15 days for Priority Mail, Ground Advantage, and separately insured mail. That waiting period does not extend the outside deadline, so a lost Priority Mail parcel leaves you a window running from day 15 to day 60 from mailing. Those figures were current as of August 2026; coverage amounts and time frames are adjusted periodically, so confirm on the official USPS claims page before you file. For the full step-by-step, including what to do when the tracking says delivered but nothing arrived, see How to File a USPS Claim for a Lost or Damaged Package.

Moving Companies: Damage, Loss, and the Valuation You Chose

Moving claims turn almost entirely on a choice you made before the truck arrived, usually without realizing it. Interstate movers must offer two levels of liability. Released Value Protection is included at no extra charge and pays 60 cents per pound per article, which is why a heavy, cheap item is covered reasonably well and a light, expensive one is barely covered at all. Run the numbers once and the point lands: a 40-pound dresser destroyed in transit pays $24, and a 6-pound laptop that cost $1,800 pays $3.60. Full Value Protection costs extra and obligates the mover to repair the item, replace it, or pay you its replacement value, subject to deductibles and to any items you declared as extraordinary value; a mover's full-value plan must be written at no less than $6.00 per pound times the weight of the shipment. Neither of these is insurance in the legal sense; both are levels of carrier liability written into your bill of lading.

Your evidence starts before the move, not after. Photograph valuable items, keep the inventory sheet the crew prepares, and read the exception codes they write next to each item, because a pre-existing scratch noted at pickup becomes the mover's defense at delivery. At delivery, inspect before you sign. Note visible damage directly on the inventory or delivery receipt while the crew is still there, and if a box is missing, mark that too. Signing a clean delivery receipt does not eliminate your claim, but it forces you to explain later why nothing was noted at the time.

For interstate moves, federal rules at 49 CFR 370 give you nine months after delivery to file a written claim, and they also bind the mover to a schedule: it must acknowledge your claim in writing within 30 days of receiving it, and then pay, deny, or make a firm settlement offer within 120 days of receiving it. If it cannot finish inside 120 days, it owes you a written status update every 60 days after that. Intrastate moves are governed by your state, and the rules can be quite different. The current federal requirements and the mover's registration status are both on the FMCSA's Protect Your Move site, which is also where you file a complaint if the mover ignores its own deadlines.

For the full step-by-step, including how to value damaged furniture and what to do when the mover offers a fraction of what you asked for, see How to File a Damage Claim Against a Moving Company.

The Evidence File That Works for Every Claim Type

Regardless of which claim you are filing, build the same folder. It should hold the contract or confirmation, the tracking or file reference number, dated photographs of the damage and the packaging, proof of value for every item you are claiming, receipts for any out-of-pocket costs the failure caused, and a written log of every call with the date, the representative's name, and what they said. Claims adjusters are not evaluating how upset you are. They are checking whether each dollar you asked for is supported by a document.

Write the claim itself in plain, unemotional language, in this order: what you shipped or booked, what went wrong, which rule or contract term applies, the exact dollar amount you are requesting, and the deadline by which you expect a response. Attach the evidence in the same order. Keep it short. A one-page claim with twelve well-labeled attachments beats a four-page narrative every time.

Deadlines at a Glance

Claim type	When to act	Where to confirm
Canceled flight refund	Decline alternatives immediately and request in writing; the refund is due within 7 business days (credit card) or 20 calendar days (other payment)	DOT aviation consumer site
Lost or damaged luggage	Report at the airport before leaving; international written claims are due 7 days after receiving a damaged bag and 21 days after a delayed one	Airline contract of carriage
USPS damage or missing contents	Within 60 days of the mailing date	USPS claims page
USPS lost article	Wait 7 days (Priority Mail Express) or 15 days (Priority Mail, Ground Advantage, insured), then file by day 60 from mailing	USPS claims page
Interstate moving damage	Written claim within 9 months of delivery; mover must acknowledge in 30 days and resolve in 120	FMCSA Protect Your Move
Credit card dispute	Within 60 days of the statement showing the charge	Your card issuer's dispute page

These day counts were current as of August 2026, checked against the DOT, USPS, and FMCSA pages linked in each section above. They do get revised, and the domestic baggage dollar cap in particular is adjusted for inflation, so confirm the figure before you rely on it. When in doubt, file early. No agency has ever penalized a consumer for filing too soon.

When the Claim Comes Back Denied

A first denial is a starting position, not a verdict. Read the denial letter for the stated reason, because it tells you exactly what to fix. "Insufficient proof of value" means send better receipts. "Filed outside the window" means find evidence of your earlier contact. "Damage not noted at delivery" means produce your photographs and any text messages sent that day. Respond in writing, address only the stated reason, attach the missing piece, and ask for the claim to be reopened under the same reference number.

If that fails, escalate outside the company. Airline issues go to the DOT's aviation consumer complaint system. Interstate moving problems go to the FMCSA. USPS claims have a formal internal appeal, and it has its own clock: you have 30 days from the date of the decision to appeal a denied or partially paid claim. Beyond those, a credit card chargeback is often the fastest real leverage when you paid by card and the service was never delivered, and small claims court remains a genuine option, where the filing fee is modest and lawyers are usually not involved. State ceilings on small claims run from about $2,500 at the low end to $25,000 at the high end, so check your own state's limit before you write off the amount as too large.

Where to Start Today

Pick the section above that matches your situation and open the detailed article linked inside it. Then do the one thing that is time-sensitive: report the bag at the airport, note the damage on the delivery receipt, decline the voucher in writing, or save the shipping box. Everything else in a claim can be assembled at your kitchen table next weekend. The steps that expire cannot.

The pattern holds across all four topics. Companies in travel, shipping, and moving are not designed to volunteer what they owe you, but they are required to pay documented, timely claims that cite the right rule. Knowing that these are all versions of the same process is most of the advantage.

Travel, Shipping & Moving Claims — Full Series

• How to Get a Refund for a Canceled Flight (Not a Voucher)
• How to File a USPS Claim for a Lost or Damaged Package
• How to File a Lost Luggage Claim (and Get Paid)
• How to File a Damage Claim Against a Moving Company

Which Route Pays, and Which One Costs You

Four claim types, four different splits. Match your situation to one of these before you file anything.

• The airline canceled, or shifted you more than 3 hours domestic / 6 hours international. Take the refund, not the voucher. Cash is due back to a credit card within 7 business days, while a voucher is worth its face value only if you fly that same carrier again before it expires — and zero if you do not. If you canceled, the DOT refund right does not apply at all, and your only live clock is the 60-day credit card dispute window.
• Your move is mostly light, expensive items. Pay for Full Value Protection. Released Value pays 60 cents per pound, which turns a 6-pound, $1,800 laptop into $3.60, while a full-value plan must be written at no less than $6.00 per pound. The trade-off runs the other way for a truck full of heavy, cheap furniture: the 40-pound dresser pays $24 under Released Value, and Full Value's extra cost plus deductibles can exceed what it adds back.
• The package went First-Class with no insurance purchased. Do not file with USPS — there is no indemnity to collect. Pursue the seller or your card issuer instead. If it moved as Priority Mail with the automatic $100, file, but note the lost-article window only opens on day 15 and still closes at day 60 from mailing.

This article is general information, not financial, legal, or medical advice. Rules and amounts change — verify with official sources before acting.