Is luggage insurance worth it in Germany?

Published premiums for luggage insurance and limits of the other payers, 2026.

Before you buy luggage insurance (Reisegepäckversicherung), know who already stands in for your luggage. There are two main payers: your contents insurance for break ins and robbery while travelling, and the airline for lost or damaged bags.

Luggage insurance mainly covers what lies in between: simple theft without a break in, damage caused by others and loss outside the flight.

Many people living in Germany fly home once or twice a year with full suitcases, often with gifts. On those flights the airline is the first payer for a lost or damaged bag. Luggage insurance adds little as long as the contents stay within the airline limit and valuables travel in your hand luggage.

Contents insurance usually covers your belongings worldwide for up to three months away from home, so it also applies during a longer stay with family abroad. If you stay longer, or have moved most of your household abroad for a while, check the limit in your policy.

The policy usually pays the current value (Zeitwert), not the price of new items. For a five year old suitcase with clothes you get clearly less than new things cost. New value is often only paid for items younger than two years.

For camera, laptop, tablet, jewellery and similar valuables there is often a combined limit of half the sum insured. In checked bags they are usually not covered at all. Cash, credit cards, tickets and boarding passes are fully or largely excluded, and sports equipment has its own low limits.

On top of that come duties of care: leaving the bag unattended at the beach or luggage visible in the car often means you get nothing or only part.

On coach trips, cruises and round trips with changing accommodation, luggage is often out of sight for long periods, and neither contents insurance nor the airline pays for simple theft from the hold or the cabin. Here luggage insurance closes a real gap.

It also pays off if you have no contents insurance, which is common in the first months after moving to Germany or for students, or if you travel regularly by motorhome. Contents insurance usually does not cover a break in to a motorhome.

You usually do not need it if you have contents insurance with a sufficient sum, mostly fly, and carry valuables in hand luggage or leave them at home. The airline then pays for loss at the airport, contents insurance for the hotel break in.

Do the maths honestly: an annual policy costs about EUR 55. With one or two flights a year and nothing valuable in checked bags, you pay around EUR 550 over ten years for cover that often only replaces the current value of your clothes.

On a flight, report the damage at the counter at once and get a property irregularity report. In writing to the airline: damage within 7 days, delayed baggage within 21 days after it is handed over. Missing these deadlines loses your claim against the airline.

After a theft or break in, go to the local police and get the report in writing. Contents and luggage insurers require it. Then report the claim to your insurer without delay. A police report in English or the local language is normally accepted, keep a copy.