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Airlines' Legal Responsibility For Lost Bags

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Getting on an airplane this holiday season? What does the airline have to pay you by law if they lose your bags?

Angeline O'Grady sued US Airways last month because they lost her husband's ashes. She'd tried to put the ashes in a carry-on to take them to where she'd promised him she'd scatter them but the TSA made her put them in her checked bag and she claims the airline lost them.

What is an airline's legal responsibility if they lose your luggage? More than they will tell you.

If your bag doesn't arrive, fill out a lost luggage form before you leave the airport. Once the airline declares your bag irretrievably lost, you'll have to make an itemized list of what was in your suitcase and the law says airlines could have to pay up to $3300. But they are allowed to limit that if they've told you in advance. And they will only pay for the actual value of your old items, not your cost to replace them new.

And then there are the things they won't pay for - loss of antiques, computers, jewelry, and money among them. Ashes aren't on the list of excluded items but it's hard to see how Mrs. O'Grady would be fully satisfied even if they cough up the $3300.

Sorry about your husband. Here's some cash. Go have fun.

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