When an airline loses your bags, you do have some rights. You can claim up to $2800, however they won't cover business items (such as sales samples), electronics, jewelry, cash, and other valuable items. Even so, people put these things in checked luggage all the time, only to later discover that they're out of luck.

To protect yourself: Pack as light as tightly as possible so that you won't have to check bags in the first place. If that's not possible, make sure that you carry on medicines and valuable items, and just check your clothes, which are covered by the airlines if lost. If you’ve acquired a valuable and breakable souvenir that you absolutely must bring on board, mail or ship (using UPS, Fedex, or the Post Office) any bulky but less valuable items (such as your dirty laundry) to your home or office.

To further protect yourself, make sure that you have your name, address and mobile phone number both outside and inside the bag, and include a note indicating where you're staying at your arrival destination, advises Jet Blue’s Burke. “Baggage ID tags do fall off sometimes, and if the airline needs to reunite you with your bags it will help if they know where you're staying,” he says. In addition, make sure you have a packing list of everything that you've packed and carry it with you so that filing a claim will be easier,” suggests Bill McGee of Consumer Reports. “You might even take a photo of everything laid out on the bed before leaving so that filling out a loss claim will be easier.”

You can also pay an additional charge and declare a higher value for your luggage when checking in. For example, on Delta if you pay $50 you’ll get up to $5,000 in baggage loss protection, although this seems like a high fee.