What to do when your bags go walkabouts

but they weren’t told this on the trip and since they were repeatedly told their bags were coming to the next port, they never purchased new things. ‘‘It’s very embarrassing attending a formal dinner on the Celebrity Silhouette in a pair of denim shorts and a t-shirt,’’ Dennis recalled.

The hassle, the shame, the bathroom sink washing. Surely Lufthansa would fall all over themselves to make this right? Wrong. Dennis formally complained. Lufthansa answered by saying that it could not compensate for the delayed baggage but would offer a 100 ($152) dinner voucher. His letter to the chief executive went unanswered.

However, passengers do have rights to compensation through the longestablished Warsaw and Montreal Conventions. These industry laws state what you could be owed for lost, delayed or damage luggage. It’s worked out by multiplying your luggage weight by a ‘‘world currency’’ called Special Drawing Rights.

Currently one SDR equals $1.92. The Warsaw Convention states you can claim 17 SDRs per kilogram of lost luggage. Under the more passengerfriendly Montreal Convention, liability for airlines is capped at 1131SDRs, which is roughly $2000.

And – after I asked questions of Lufthansa – this amount is close to what it finally paid to each Dennis and Brenda. Like their baggage – better late than never.

Lufthansa said: ‘‘While we had retraced every single contact report made, regrettably we could not pinpoint what went wrong exactly, and we are in the midst of sharing this incident with our service partners to ensure such a situation does not happen again.’’

But, despite Lufthansa’s example, the airline said these situations are extremely rare and the statisticians agree. Airlines in 2015 mishandled 6.53 bags per 1000 passengers, according to SITA, an aviation technology firm.

In 2007, carriers globally mishandled 18.88 bags per 1000 passengers. Despite this, stereotypes like Dennis and Brenda still exist at airports, so what airlines are judged on is their communication, commitment and compensation in cases of mishandled baggage. This summer Lufthansa failed on all three counts.

Immediately contact baggage handling staff.

Contact the airline to get a clear policy on recovering the cost of replacement items.

Consult with the airline about compensation through the Warsaw or Montreal Conventions when delays drag on. Photograph damage. Load your carry-on luggage with essential items (medications, documents, clothing)

Insist on written confirmations, references and tracking numbers.

Contact your travel insurance firm, but know that you don’t need a policy in order for the airline to pay compensation. Email if you have a travel issue you’d like Josh Martin, a London-based travel journalist, to write about.