Protecting Your Belongings While Traveling: Tips & Coverage

A few years back, I spoke at a college up north and thought I’d save some money by taking a red-eye back home. 

But I was so exhausted after speaking that I passed out in a chair in the airport, and when I woke up, my wallet and my brand new laptop were gone. 

Following that debacle, I became obsessed with protecting valuables while traveling. What packing tools can help you avoid leaving items behind? Are slash-proof bags and RFID-blockers essential — or just snake oil? Does your credit card cover lost or stolen bags? 

And did they catch the guy who stole my stuff?!

How To Avoid Losing Your Belongings While Traveling

Stay organized with smart packing

I’ll admit that I wasn’t a big fan of packing cubes and organizers when I first started traveling professionally. To me, they just seemed like more dead space and weight when I was trying to travel as light as possible. 

Then, I realized the hidden benefit of “compartmentalizing” all of your stuff — when something is missing from a packing cube, it becomes far more apparent than if it were simply missing from your larger suitcase. 

Since then, I’ve had dozens of times when I’ve picked up a suspiciously light packing cube and thought, “What’s missing from you…?” only to realize it was a pair of socks, a charging cable, or a bottle of pills that would’ve been virtually impossible to replace overseas. 

Secure items in transit

Whether you’re in a plane, train, cab, or on foot, zippers are your friend. Laptops, passports, and other valuables that aren’t carefully stowed away behind a zipper can easily fall out, be damaged by impacts or moisture, or be targeted by thieves. 

For items you need regular access to, like your smartphone or wallet, consider using your front pockets for “quick access storage” instead of your back pockets. Not only is this better for your spinal alignment, but studies show that it drastically reduces the risk of theft since it’s much harder for pickpockets to access without getting seen. 

Be vigilant in crowded areas

Crowded areas like tourist attractions, town squares, and even city buses are magnets for petty criminals and pickpockets. These baddies will look for “crimes of opportunity,” a.k.a. easy targets that allow them to swoop in like a hawk, grab what they want, and disappear. 

To protect yourself, you’ll want to look like less of a target. Slide your purse or backpack to the front of your chest, remove things from your back pocket, keep your smartphone and wallet away as much as possible, and keep your luggage close and tight. 

Oh, and never wear over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones in public. In my experience, they’re a billboard for bad guys, saying, “Hey! I’m not paying attention!” 

Protecting Electronics and Valuables on the Road

Use anti-theft bags and accessories

The common image of an “anti-theft bag” probably includes something with a cut-resistant strap, an RFID-blocking pouch for your wallet, and a $100+ price tag. But the experts say none of that technology is really necessary. 

In truth, there have been zero documented cases of criminals using RFID skimmers to steal credit card information through a bag, and we couldn’t find any evidence to suggest that “slash-and-grabs” are common practice. 

Instead, the best “anti-theft bag” is simply one with lots of zippers that you wear across your chest — not on one shoulder, where it’s easily pulled off and stolen. 

One type of anti-theft bag we do recommend, however, is a $10 Faraday pouch for your car keys. Relay attacks are on the rise, which involve criminals amplifying your key fob’s signal from a distance so they can steal it while you’re asleep. Thankfully, they’re easily foiled by a signal-blocking Faraday bag. 

Leverage real-time tracking tools

AirTags, Tiles, and other GPS tracking devices are some of my favorite travel gadgets because you can set them up in five minutes, hide them in your bag or car, and enjoy peace of mind for years to come. 

Plus, when you land, you can check your bag’s GPS immediately to make sure it landed with you. If it’s stuck at a different airport, you can file a delayed baggage claim with the airline immediately without having to wait at the carousel for 40 anxiety-inducing minutes.

Giving the airline your bag’s GPS coordinates can also sometimes help them locate and return it much sooner. 

Store valuables safely

There are a few ways to keep your valuables extra secure in a hotel room. First, whenever possible, try to book a room on the third floor or above. This puts you out of range of regular foot traffic, makes your balcony virtually inaccessible, and in a disaster scenario, protects you and your stuff from flooding. 

Second, consider keeping your “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door most of the time you’re there. Limiting the number of staff entering and cleaning your room isn’t just good for security — it’s also better for the environment. 

Lastly, don’t be afraid to use the hotel safe. While it’s true that no hotel safe is impenetrable (the staff have access to a master key), it’s still better than leaving cash, passports, and jewelry out in the open. 

Credit Card Benefits for Lost or Stolen Luggage

Did you know that while you’re trying to protect your credit card overseas, your card is trying to protect you, too? 

Specifically, some credit cards come with travel insurance that automatically applies to trips you book using that card. The benefit can include lost/delayed baggage insurance, trip delay/cancellation/interruption coverage, rental car coverage, and more. 

If a card offers lost/delayed baggage insurance, it’s usually a pretty decent amount. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card covers up to $100 per day for five days for delayed baggage and up to $3,000 for lost luggage. 

. . .

How to use credit card coverage

Here’s a quick overview of how to use the lost or delayed baggage reimbursement benefit attached to your card: 

1. Book a trip using that card.
2. If your bag gets lost or delayed, file a claim with the airline or cruise line first.
3. Call your credit card company’s benefits administrator (a phone number listed in your guide to benefits) to notify them of your delayed/missing bag. 
4. Once the airline/cruise line offers you a settlement amount, file a claim with your credit card company for the remainder. 

To give a real-world example, let’s say Delta loses your bag with $2,000 worth of stuff in it. You file a claim with Delta and then call your Chase benefits administrator on the same day to say, “Hey, I filed a claim with Delta, not expecting much.” They say, “Cool, just let us know what they give you and we’ll help with the rest.”

(I’m paraphrasing.) 

Sure enough, Delta settles for $600, so you file a claim with Chase, and they send you the remaining $1,400. 

“Airlines are notoriously stingy,” a seasoned benefits administrator told us. “They’ll pull all kinds of technicalities to weasel out of reimbursing you. That’s why this benefit exists. We’ve got your back.” 

READ MORE: Does Your Credit Card Cover Lost or Stolen Luggage?

Credit card insurance vs. travel insurance

If your credit card offers lost/delayed baggage reimbursement, you might wonder if you really need a separate travel insurance policy to protect your belongings. Are your credit card benefits enough?

Let’s look at what one covers versus the other. 

For starters, credit card baggage insurance usually only covers bags that are delayed, lost, damaged, or stolen while you’re in transit, quite literally from terminal to terminal. Once you leave the airport or the cruise terminal, your coverage may no longer apply. 

Plus, a regular travel insurance policy can build on top of the coverage the airline and your credit card already provide. 

For example, let’s say you lose a bag full of expensive clothes and equipment worth $5,000. The airline completely stiffs you on a technicality, Chase covers $3,000, and your travel insurance policy could cover the remaining $2,000. 

READ MORE: When to Use Credit Card Coverage vs. Separate Travel Insurance

Travel Insurance and Baggage Coverage

Most travel insurance plans include two types of luggage coverage: 

• Baggage coverage provides reimbursement in case your bags or personal items are lost, stolen, or damaged during your trip. 
• Baggage delay provides reimbursement for the cost of purchasing necessary personal items (e.g., toiletries, clothes, chargers) if your bag is delayed by more than six hours. 

As you can probably tell, these are pretty similar to lost and delayed baggage coverage that some credit cards provide. 

But as mentioned, the key difference is that a travel insurance policy’s baggage coverage will protect your bags for the duration of the trip, while a credit card’s lost luggage reimbursement will only protect you while you’re in transit. 

Plus, travel insurance covers all of your stuff — not just what’s inside your bag. 

Protecting belongings during emergencies

Generally speaking, most travel insurance policies will cover the cost of your trip if you miss some or all of it due to an unforeseen emergency like a serious illness or natural disaster. 

But what about your bags? 

Let’s say you and your best friend are hiking in Costa Rica when she slips and sprains her ankle. While she’s getting treated in the nearby hospital, the cruise ship leaves you both behind. Luckily, you have your passports with you, so you can catch a flight home, but your bags are still on the boat. What now?

“If you know where your bags are, we can reimburse you for the cost of shipping them home,” a rep with Travel Guard told us. “The same rule applies even if you left them behind by accident.” 

As for bags that are totally lost during natural disasters, “we’d count that as ‘lost luggage’, which is covered up to your baggage coverage limits,” she told us. 

Coverage limits and exclusions

The lost/delayed baggage coverage you get with most travel insurance policies is usually pretty robust and covers a wide range of scenarios, but they do have exceptions. 

Travel insurance providers like Allianz Travel Insurance, for example, require you to provide receipts for each item inside your luggage you’d like reimbursement for. If you can’t, you’ll only get 50% of that item’s manufacturer's suggested retail price. 

You’ll typically need to provide a police report for stolen bags, and the maximum per-item payout amount is usually $500. So, if you have a $1,000 camera and $200 worth of clothes in your bag, you may only get $500 + $200 = $700 total. 

But even with these limitations, baggage coverage and baggage delay are still far more robust than what any credit card currently provides. 

Comparing Travel Insurance for Baggage Coverage

If you’re looking to compare one provider’s baggage coverage to another, here are a few key terms to look out for: 

• Coverage limits: The maximum amount the policy will pay out per insured individual, not per bag. So if your baggage coverage limits are $2,000 and you lose two bags each worth $1,500 (and the airline stiffs you), you’ll still only get a $2,000 maximum payout. 

• Per-item coverage limits: The maximum amount your provider will pay per missing item, which is usually set at $500. So if you lose your suitcase ($600), your camera ($800), and your clothes ($200), you may only get a maximum of $500 + $500 + $200 = $1,200. 

• Deductibles: Some providers charge a small deductible (~$25) for baggage coverage claims, meaning you pay $25 and they’ll cover the rest — just like car insurance. 

• Exclusions: Travel insurance providers have slightly different lists of exceptions, some of which may be a big deal to you. Travel Guard, for example, will pay to replace your prescription medications, but won’t cover regular or prescription sunglasses. So if you want your $250 Ray-Bans protected, you may want to look elsewhere. 

• Optional add-ons: If you need more coverage than ~$2,000 per bag or $500 per item, you might want to look for a provider like Travelex, which offers an “additional baggage” add-on that elevates your per-item limit to $1,500 and adds $2,000 worth of coverage for electronic/professional equipment. 

When comparing providers, keep in mind that baggage coverage is just a small part of a travel insurance policy. There’s also trip interruption/cancellation/delay coverage, emergency medical coverage, and more. 

If the baggage coverage is similar across the board, one of these other types of coverage may be your tiebreaker. 

READ MORE: What Is Comprehensive Travel Protection?

Top Providers for Baggage Insurance

To give you a few places to start collecting quotes, here are some top picks for travel insurance providers and the baggage coverage they offer.

Allianz

Allianz Travel Insurance offers three standard travel insurance plans (OneTrip Premier, OneTrip Prime, and OneTrip Basic) and offers up to $2,000 in baggage coverage and $600 in baggage delay. 

But they’re best known for generous cancel for any reason (CFAR) coverage, which is an optional add-on that reimburses you up to 80% of your total trip cost if you choose to cancel for an uncovered reason (e.g., job loss, breakup). The industry standard, by contrast, is just 50%.

So while Allianz may only offer average luggage protection at best, its trusted reputation and generous approach to CFAR make it ideal if you want ultimate protection.

World Nomads 

World Nomads offers three standard plans (Standard, Explorer, and Epic) and stands out from other providers in two key ways. 

First, its emergency medical coverage actually covers high-risk activities like zip-lining, parasailing, ATV riding, organized sports, marathons, and more, which other providers typically won’t touch with a 10-foot pole.

Second, World Nomads offers above-average luggage protection, with up to $3,000 in baggage coverage and $1,250 in baggage delay in its top-tier Epic plan. 

All things considered, it’s an obvious choice if you enjoy high-risk activities and would like elevated baggage protection for your sporting equipment and other gear. 

Travelex

Travelex offers three primary plans (Essential, Advantage, and Ultimate) and stands out for having a long list of nine optional add-ons for tailoring your policy to your needs.

Some of those add-ons include a pet care upgrade to help cover unexpected vet bills while traveling with your pet, a security deposit upgrade to reimburse you in case you damage your vacation rental, and an additional baggage upgrade to raise your baggage coverage protection limits.

With the additional baggage upgrade, you can:

• Raise the Ultimate plan’s $2,000 limit to $5,000
• Raise the per-item limit to $1,500
• Add $2,000 for professional and electronic equipment 
• Add $1,500 for sporting equipment delay in case your skis don’t arrive with you and you miss a few precious days on the slopes 

All things considered, Travelex is an excellent choice if you think you’ll need some add-on coverage for your policy.

Coverage for high-value items

If you’re looking for coverage for high-value items while you travel — things like jewelry, electronics, drones, instruments, sporting equipment, or medical equipment — there are a few things you should know: 

• Some high-value items are excluded from most policies. Allianz, for example, won’t cover artwork, antiques, firearms, property used for business purposes, and medical equipment. 

• Per-item limits are a thing. Even if your baggage coverage has a limit of $2,000, you may have a per-item limit of just $500, meaning the most you can get reimbursed for your stolen $2,000 laptop is $500. 

• You can file multiple claims for the same item. If the airline loses a bag with your $2,000 laptop in it, you can file a claim with the airline first and try to get the full $2,000. They may only pay $1,000, though, in which case you can file a claim with your travel insurance provider for $500 more.

• If your existing coverage limits aren’t enough, you may need additional baggage coverage. Some travel insurance providers like Travelex offer an “additional baggage coverage” add-on that can raise your per-bag and per-item limits by another $1,000 or more. This might be a good idea if you’re traveling to a high-theft area with lots of expensive stuff. 

• The best insurance is to leave the valuables at home. Unless you absolutely need it, leave the expensive stuff at home where you don’t have to worry about it or pay extra to insure it. You can also buy cheaper “stunt double” versions of your favorite gear to travel with. I know seasoned travel pros with $150 burner phones, $80 wifi-only tablets, and even a $50 clone of her wedding ring she had commissioned on Etsy. 

Filing a Claim for Lost or Stolen Items

If an airline or other travel carrier loses your bag, the claims process usually looks like this: 

1. File a claim with the travel carrier.
2. Call your benefits administrator to file a report (since you usually only have 21 days with credit cards/travel insurance).
3. Wait for the carrier to respond with a settlement.
4. File a claim with your insurance provider for the remaining amount.
5. Upload tons of documentation (detailed below).
6. Stand by for additional questions.
7. Wait for your check in the mail.

If you lost your bag or your bag was stolen, the claims process looks the same, only you start with step no. 4. 

Required documentation for claims

Whether your stuff was lost, stolen, damaged, or delayed, you’ll typically need lots and lots of documentation to successfully file a claim. 

You may be asked to upload: 

• A signed claim form
• Your travel itinerary
• Credit card statements
• Proof of claim submission to the airline/cruise line
• Copy of the settlement or denial from the airline/cruise line
• Copies of receipts for all items worth $25+
• Police reports (for stolen item claims)
• Copies of receipts for all personal items purchased while your bag was missing (for delayed baggage claims) 

And more. 

Claim timeframes

Here’s how much time you typically have to file claims with airlines and providers, as well as when you can expect to see some kind of reimbursement: 

• Filing a claim with the airline/cruise line: Within 72 hours of landing 
• Calling your benefits administrator: Within 21 days (or less, varies by provider)
• Receiving a response from the airline/cruise line: Within 21 days
• Filing a claim with your insurance: Within 90 days (or less, varies by provider)
• Receiving reimbursement from insurance: Within 7 days of filing a claim (or less, varies by provider)

That’s a lot of dates to remember, so here’s all you need to know: If your bag gets lost or stolen, notify the airline/police as soon as possible. You should then call your benefits administrator right away, and they can walk you through the rest of the process. 

Dealing with denied claims

If your claim gets denied, here are three steps you can take to continue seeking reimbursement from here: 

1. Find out the reasons for denial. It’s possible your insurance carrier is simply missing an essential document or two. 
2. File an appeal. If you think your denial was a mistake, you can file an appeal, have them take a second look at your case, and cross your fingers. 
3. File a secondary claim. If the airline or cruise line denies your claim (or settles for less than you need), you can always file a secondary claim with your credit card company and/or travel insurance for the remaining amount. 

FAQs About Protecting Your Belongings While Traveling

Does travel insurance cover theft from a rental car or hotel room?

Yes, travel insurance will typically cover theft from rental cars or hotel rooms up to your policy’s baggage coverage limit (usually around $1,000 to $2,000 unless you purchase an add-on). Items stolen from unlocked vehicles, however, are typically not covered. 

Are items like jewelry or high-end electronics covered under standard policies?

No. Travel insurance companies typically have a list of “high-end” or “high-value” items they don’t cover, which often includes jewelry, smartphones, computers, instruments and professional video equipment. 

How do I choose between travel insurance and credit card benefits for baggage coverage?

Find out how much coverage your credit card provides and purchase additional coverage as necessary. For example, maybe you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card that provides up to $100/day in baggage delay insurance. But it doesn’t cover loss or theft once you reach your destination, so you may want to purchase an additional policy.  

Bottom Line: Keeping Your Stuff Safe While Traveling

Protecting your belongings while traveling requires a mix of mindful packing, staying vigilant, and having the right insurance. Use preventative measures, understand your coverage options, and act quickly to resolve any losses.

Oh, and they did catch the guy who stole my stuff by tracking my laptop’s serial number to a pawn shop and getting a description from the owner. But even though I got my laptop and (empty) wallet back, you can bet I won’t be caught off-guard again!

. . .