Delta's baggage page, read 17 September 2026, lists a Warsaw Convention limit of $9.07 per pound up to $640 per bag alongside a Montreal Convention limit of 1,519 Special Drawing Rights, about $2,075 at that day's IMF rate. Montreal is the treaty that applies on almost every US international route today.
Because that figure only applies under the older of two treaties the page cites at once. Read on 17 September 2026, Delta's baggage liability page lists an International Liability Limit governed by the Warsaw Convention at $9.07 per lb up to $640 per bag, in US dollars. A few lines below it, the same page lists a separate International Liability Limit under the Montreal Convention of 1,519 Special Drawing Rights per ticketed passenger, which the International Monetary Fund's daily SDR valuation put at $1.365750 each on the same day, about $2,075.
The page does not say which one applies to your flight, and most of what currently answers this question does not either. The results that rank are two federal court opinions from 2001, a Philippine judiciary record, and a university PDF on treaty history, none of them written for a passenger staring at a lost bag. The short version, Montreal is the treaty the United States and nearly every country it flies to have ratified, and it is the one that usually governs. Warsaw still sits on the page because a smaller set of routes and older fare rules can still fall under it.
A federal rule, not a treaty, sets the domestic figure. 14 CFR 254.4 puts a floor under what a US carrier can limit itself to for a domestic bag, currently $4,700 for each passenger, up from $3,800 before an increase that took effect 22 January 2025. Delta's page carries the same $4,700 figure. The rule commits the Department of Transportation to revisit the amount every two years against the Consumer Price Index, so it moves on a schedule rather than staying fixed.
Put next to each other, the gap between a domestic bag and an international one under the older treaty is stark.
| Rule | Limit | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic, 14 CFR 254.4 | $4,700 per passenger | US federal rule, reviewed every two years |
| International, Warsaw Convention | $9.07 per lb, capped at $640 per bag | 1929 treaty, still cited for a subset of routes |
| International, Montreal Convention | 1,519 SDR per passenger, about $2,075 | 1999 treaty, revised by ICAO 28 December 2024 |
Airlines that fly both old-treaty and new-treaty routes keep both figures on file, and the page reads like one answer when it is really two. The Warsaw Convention of 1929 originally set liability in gold francs per kilogram, later converted into the per pound dollar figure carriers still publish. It binds a carrier only on a route where the countries at both ends, or the ticket's own terms, fall under Warsaw rather than its replacement.
The Montreal Convention of 1999 is that replacement, and the United States ratified it in 2003. Under ICAO's own 2024 revision notice, the baggage limit set out in Article 22, paragraph 2, moved from 1,288 to 1,519 Special Drawing Rights, effective 28 December 2024, the third increase since the original 1,000 SDR figure in 1999. That is the number Delta now shows, converted daily at whatever the IMF publishes an SDR is worth that day.
For a passenger this means the $640 figure is closer to a worst case than a default. Almost every scheduled international itinerary out of the US today runs under Montreal, at roughly three times the Warsaw cap. The Warsaw number still matters on the smaller set of routes and legacy fare rules where it remains the only treaty in force.
Warsaw pays by weight, up to its cap, so the number depends on how heavy the bag was when it disappeared.
| Treaty | How it is calculated | Result for a 50 lb bag |
|---|---|---|
| Warsaw Convention | $9.07 per lb, capped at $640 | $453.50 |
| Montreal Convention | Flat 1,519 SDR per passenger, not weight based | about $2,075, regardless of weight |
Sometimes, and only for the difference. Every figure above is a ceiling on what the airline itself owes, not a valuation of what was actually in the bag. A policy's baggage benefit is meant to sit on top of whichever treaty limit applies rather than replace it, and our travel insurance guide lists what to check before you buy one, including how a policy treats an airline payout you already received.
That interaction is not unique to baggage. The same offset logic that let one insurer deduct EU261 delay compensation from a separate claim, covered here, shows up in baggage policies too, insurers commonly ask for the airline's settlement before finishing their own. File the treaty claim with the airline first, keep its response in writing, then claim whatever gap is left.
The treaty limit only pays out if the claim is filed the way the carrier expects it.
Because it prints two treaties at once. The $640 figure is the Warsaw Convention's $9.07 per pound rate, capped at that amount, read on Delta's page on 17 September 2026. The $2,075 figure comes from the Montreal Convention's 1,519 SDR limit, converted at that day's IMF rate. Montreal is the treaty that governs almost every current US international route.
On a shrinking set of routes, yes. The United States ratified the Montreal Convention in 2003, and it has replaced Warsaw as the treaty governing baggage liability on nearly every scheduled international itinerary the country flies. Warsaw survives on baggage pages because a smaller number of routes and older fare rules still fall under it rather than its replacement.
It is the dollar conversion carriers publish for the Warsaw Convention's original per kilogram liability rate, capped at $640 per bag regardless of weight. At $9.07 per pound, a 50 pound checked bag is worth $453.50 under this rule alone, far short of the $4,700 domestic limit the same carrier applies on US flights.
$4,700 per passenger, set under 14 CFR 254.4 and effective 22 January 2025, up from $3,800 before that. The rule requires the Department of Transportation to review the figure every two years against the Consumer Price Index, so it is due to move again on that schedule rather than staying fixed indefinitely.
It can, as a separate benefit rather than an automatic top up. A baggage benefit is meant to sit above whichever treaty limit applies, and insurers commonly ask for the airline's settlement before finishing their own claim, the same offset pattern that shows up in delay and compensation claims. Read the policy's baggage section before you rely on it.
ICAO's scheduled review raised the Article 22 baggage figure from 1,288 to 1,519 Special Drawing Rights, effective 28 December 2024, the third increase since the original 1,000 SDR set in 1999. Carriers that cite the Montreal Convention on their baggage pages, Delta included, now show that updated figure rather than the earlier one.