What Do I Do If My Baggage Was Damaged with Southwest Airlines?

There are times when the baggage you checked in at the airport gets damaged, lost, or delayed. If this should happen, you must report it within 4 hours of your flight's arrival to the Southwest Airlines Baggage Service Office located near the baggage claim or the ticket area. After making your report, you will be notified later on what to do next.

Jul 9, 2020

What do I do if my baggage was damaged with Southwest Airlines?

While traveling, we check our baggage in and expect them to be in the same condition they were in when we get them back. Unfortunately, there are times when we get our baggage back only to find that they are damaged. This article will provide you with information on what to do if your baggage was damaged with Southwest Airlines.

What to do if your Baggage Has Been Damaged, Lost, or Delayed

While Travelling With Southwest Airlines If you checked your luggage in with Southwest Airlines and they were returned to you damaged or in the case, they were missing or delayed, it is your responsibility to report it in person to the Southwest Airlines Baggage Service Office. This must be done within four hours of your destination arrival. You will find the Southwest Airlines Baggage Service Office at the airport's Southwest Airlines ticket counter or in the baggage claim area. Once there, explain the problem to the Southwest Airlines Baggage Service Agent. The agent will then create a report and give you a receipt of the incident. Be sure to look over the report closely and let the service agent know if you find any mistakes so that he or she can fix it.

You will then start to receive regular updates regarding the incident and the status of your baggage if lost or delayed. In addition, you will also be given a phone number to call and follow up on the incident yourself. In the event, your baggage was damaged someone from Southwest Airlines will contact you shortly to discuss your case.

If your baggage were just delayed, Southwest Airlines will make every effort possible to recover them quickly and return your luggage to you in the hope it will minimize any inconvenience this dilemma has caused you. When you visit the Southwest Airlines Baggage Service Office, you will also be asked for the address you would like for your luggage to be delivered once they arrive. Southwest will then deliver your luggage to the address you have listed as soon as possible to avoid any more delays.

Depending on what the situation was or why your luggage has been delayed or your intended location of delivery, the Southwest agent might ask additional questions or advise you of additional options to help get your luggage back faster and more convenient for you.

The instructions to file a claim for your lost or damaged luggage will be provided to you immediately by the agent who makes out the incident report at the airport. If after five days, the local Baggage Service Office was still not able to locate your baggage, you can download a form from the Baggage Claim Web Portal that is necessary to pursue a claim to the Central Baggage Services. To access the portal you will need the incident number provided to you at the time you reported your baggage lost or damaged.

If you are reporting damages made to your luggage, you must bring them with you and show them to the Southwest Airlines Baggage Service Agent. The agent will assess the damage and liability. While Southwest Airlines will do everything they can to rectify the situation, they are not liable for minor damage from normal wear and tear like small scuffs or marks, dents, punctures, dirt, cuts, scratches, or manufacturer defects. Moreover, they are not liable for bags that were kept in the passenger compartment of the plane or for items the bag contained when it was deemed as overstuffed. If you have any question click here to contact an agent now.

Further questions?

Ask a followup or related question and we will try to provide an answer in seconds.
Adam has been tirelessly trying to help customers find the best tips and tricks to get through phone trees and writing many guides for prickly customer service problems. He's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inside Edition and Bloomberg.
What Do I Do If My Baggage Was Damaged with Southwest Airlines?

Why does GetHuman Write How-to Guides for Southwest Airlines Problems?

GetHuman has been working for over 10 years on sourcing information about big organizations like Southwest Airlines in order to help customers resolve customer service issues faster. We started with contact information and fastest ways to reach a human at big companies. Particularly ones with slow or complicated IVR or phone menu systems. Or companies that have self-serve help forums instead of a customer service department. From there, we realized that consumers still needed more detailed help solving the most common problems, so we expanded to this set of guides, which grows every day. And if you spot any issues with our What Do I Do If My Baggage Was Damaged with Southwest Airlines? guide, please let us know by sending us feedback. We want to be as helpful as possible. If you appreciated this guide, please share it with your favorite people. Our free information and tools is powered by you, the customer. The more people that use it, the better it gets.

Southwest Airlines

Asked 4 years ago
Updated 4 years ago
Viewed 37,324 times
Southwest Airlines
My baggage was damaged with Southwest Airlines
My baggage was broken with Southwest Airlines
My baggage was dented with Southwest Airlines
My baggage was wrecked with Southwest Airlines
Was this page helpful?
Thank you and please share!
Thank you and please share!
Needs work
Sharing is what powers GetHuman's free customer service contact information and tools. You can help!