Airlines rarely get bags back to passengers in 48 hours. Most bags that fall into the delayed baggage category make it back to the passenger in 3-7 days. Figure out what you need for a few days and immediately buy those items.

In 2026, the vast majority of "missing" luggage is actually just "delayed," and most passengers are reunited with their bags within 24 to 48 hours. According to IATA and SITA data, approximately 85% to 90% of mishandled bags are located and delivered to the passenger's address within the first two days. This is facilitated by modern real-time tracking systems and the "WorldTracer" global database used by almost all major airlines. If your bag is not found within the first 72 hours, it transitions to a "secondary search" phase where staff manually check tag details and contents. A bag is only officially declared "lost" after 21 days, at which point you are legally entitled to claim full compensation (up to approximately $1,700–$3,800 depending on international treaties like the Montreal Convention). For 2026 travelers, using a personal GPS tracker (like an AirTag) has become the standard "pro" move; being able to tell the airline exactly which terminal your bag is in often reduces the recovery time to under 12 hours, as it bypasses the manual logging delays at busy airport baggage offices.