[scarface_74]

An airline owes you $2500 for lost luggage on domestic flights. They aren’t going to make that up by selling to places like this. It’s not like they tell the department responsible for getting your luggage back to you to go through the luggage and determine whether they can make a profit on you.

Anecdotally, every thing my wife and I own are in four suitcases that we take across the country 7 months a year making one way trips.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36306966

We have to take all of our personal belongings with us when we leave our home so our place can be rented out to cover our mortgage and expenses while we travel over half of the year.

For $2500 we could replace everything that we have in any one piece of checked luggage and have money left over. We keep anything of value in our carry on backpack.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B12SPPXV?

[dcx]

> On flights within the U.S., airlines are responsible for lost-luggage reimbursement up to $2,500 per person; on international flights, airlines owe you a mere $9.07 per pound, with a ceiling of $640. (That rate was set by an international treaty in 1929.)

> Beyond that, airlines owe you nothing for your most valuable items. Most contracts of carriage specifically exempt from compensation things like antiques, art, books, documents, money, cameras, collectibles, electronics, or "fragile or perishable items." [1]

Also this is not a guaranteed payout, you may need to provide receipts for your things [2]. In general I would prefer to keep the contents of my bag vs receiving "up to" $2,500. We're mostly working people here. The time and money cost of travel disruptions, replacing stuff, navigating bureaucracy etc. is not low. And my stuff has emotional value.

I agree that this setup seems reasonable in a perfect world. But knowing how large, complex companies function, I feel it is unwise to create any kind of loop which rewards airlines as a function of luggage lost.

[1] https://www.frommers.com/tips/airfare/the-bottom-line-what-d...

[2] https://www.peopleclerk.com/post/airline-lost-delayed-luggag...

[scarface_74]

The stuff you take in your suitcase when you travel has “emotional value”? What do you take with you when you travel?

Since our case is quite unusual, if I travel somewhere like a typical person and carry a weeks worth of clothes, that’s five- seven pairs of pants, 5-7 shirts, some underwear and some socks and maybe a change of shoes.

When I traveled for work, I also had some gym clothes.

That’s around $1500 - $2000 of clothes max. I fly mostly Delta and occasionally AA. Delta is not going to quibble about $2K for lost luggage. They claim less around .66% of luggage is lost or delayed.

This is how often the average person flies in a year.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/388484/air-travel-remains-down-...

The chance of the average person experiencing luggage being lost or delayed is slim.