They tried to contend that my bag was waylaid on the way to my home base, and they reimbursed delayed bags only when stranded away. I pointed out I was leaving again and my suit is in the bag. Yes, I actually DID buy a suit. It was a women's off the rack outfit, and the price was well under the allowance limit of the Montreal Convention. (And there is no home-base exemption in the Montreal Convention.) I waited several days but had to pack again. So you don't think I am a bag lady, I do have other clothing, but the nature of the two trips meant that all the items I needed for the most important business events in the second trip were in the suitcase for the first.

I am not sure whether the force of laws pertain to every point of origin, but the EU government does assert the passengers' rights. The airlines may try to play dumb and hope passengers don't find out about it but the EU people even have a handy app you can carry on your iPhone to tell you the rights.

I did the complaint all online via the complaint form, and then email correspondence with the excuse-givers who answer it. The people at the airport and even the baggage tracing call line people are powerless, lack access to the information you need, useless, or several of the above, at any given time. Deal with the people who have the power.

Now, I have read other people saying "I have just landed in this foreign land and you have absconded with my toothbrush" and the airline giving them an amenity kit, so there are different kinds of problems and different levels of solutions. As I said, I was home. The airline had my makeup and my clothes, but I had backup toothbrush etc. at home.

The problem was created simply by them failing to load my bag. It wasn't sent to exotic places. It wasn't checked late or tagged wrong. They just didn't put it on the plane. For several consecutive days. They tried to say "your baggage arriving with you is something we aspire to but cannot guarantee" but when they have a bag that doesn't match the manifest, they will hold up the freaking plane for 90 minutes to get it off, so I thought I had the moral high ground and I just stood it. I do have cc insurance, but it never occurred to me to go that way: the airline was responsible.

I am not sure about the advice, Often1, about not spending without authorization from the carrier. As long as you are not spending, you're giving them evidence you didn't need the thing you are asking them to purchase for you. I would say, make spending decisions as if it was your own money, and then press for fair reimbursement, knowing that you won't get more than the legal provision (and may have to fight for that, and may end up with less).