Up to 15 percent [...]]]> Lost luggage can be a real pain. Even if you eventually get it back, nothing puts a damper on your travel like losing one or more pieces of your luggage. Even the threat of lost luggage makes us pack differently and consider taking less than we might actually need on the trip.

Up to 15 percent of lost luggage is never returned. After a certain amount of time, the airlines are obligated to reimburse you a standard amount. But that doesn’t really account for the items you actually had in your bag. If you want to receive true compensation for your actual possessions, you should consider taking out separate travel insurance. This type of private insurance will give you the extra piece of mind that even if you can’t avoid the trouble of lost luggage, you can avoid taking a major financial hit.

When shopping for travel insurance, it’s important to realize that not all of the policies are standard. That is, you can’t just purchase generic travel insurance and expect to know what’s covered. For this reason, you need to really do your homework and figure out precise what each policy protects you against, and how much this protection is going to cost.

You’ll definitely want insurance that covers the replacement value of your possessions contained in a permanently lost bag. However, you should also check into getting coverage for delayed insurance. Lots of lost bags tend to show up in the next day or so. Depending on how you’ve packed, this could cause a serious hardship and you may have to purchase items just to get you through the 24 to 48 hours that it will take your wayward bags to arrive. Travel insurance that covers delayed baggage will reimburse you for expenses to replace essential items like clothes and toiletries. Most of these provisions have a maximum of a few hundred dollars, but that could make a huge difference in your enjoyment of the trip.