Thanks very much for your responses and the empathy. Sadly, that's way more than we've gotten from lan..

I fully intend to buy new lenses,my worry is if lan will even reimburse me at all. .I guess it doesn't matter as I can't go without them.

we definitely have learned our lesson about what to pack in bags and what not to pack. All the carry on limitations with security do make it challenging. I've had issues with the tsa on packing liquids and liquid packages like contacts. ..I know I'm theory they should be Ok, but I've gotten mixed responses and I tend to avoid getting into debates with the tsa , those don't seem to end well for most passengers. .. I am already thinking of having to check a bag and feeling worried. ..

It took 5 days, today that is, before we got a generic email from a supposed lan baggage rep telling us nothing hag been found.

One lingering question I have is what to expect if the bag is declared lost? Any idea what, if anything, lan would actually offer us? I don't know when the bag got lost, whether in a us connecting flight or in Brazil or Argentina. I'm thinking if it's been 5 days and nothing, then the bag is probably lost., probably buried in some pile of misplaced random bags. ..