Originally Posted by
beep88
If you were flying home when this happened, you are entitled to nothing until the bag is declared "lost". Whether you have insurance or not.
If you were carrying certain specifically excluded items, you are also not entitled to compensation. Insurance or not.
Some credit cards will give you a set amount automatically 24hrs after you've reported your bag as missing to the carrier, if it's not been returned to you. There are also a few service companies that do the same, usually for $5 and then giving you $1000 if a bag is lost automatically after 24hrs.