What if my luggage is lost or delayed in Morocco?

First, the calm reality: delayed luggage in Morocco is far more common than truly lost luggage, and it is usually sorted within a day or two. Bags get mis-loaded, miss a tight connection, or come on the next flight. The single most important thing is what you do before you leave the airport — do not walk out of arrivals without reporting it. Go to your airline’s baggage-services desk (in the baggage hall, near the carousels) and file the claim while you are still there.

Insist on a Property Irregularity Report — the PIR — with a written reference number, and photograph it. This is the document everything else hangs on: it proves you reported the bag, it is what the airline uses to track and return it, and your travel insurer will demand it. Give them your Moroccan address (your riad or hotel) so they can courier the bag to you, plus a phone number that works locally and your email. Get the desk to confirm how you will be updated, and keep the agent’s details.

While you wait, you have rights and options. Keep receipts for anything reasonable you have to buy because your bag is missing — toiletries, a change of clothes, charger — because under airline rules and most travel-insurance policies these "essential purchases" are reimbursable. A riad or good hotel will help you chase the airline; their staff often have better luck on the local phone lines than a frustrated guest does. The bag, when found, is normally delivered to your accommodation rather than you having to return to the airport.

The honest prevention advice is the oldest advice: carry on what you cannot do without. A change of clothes, essential medication, your travel documents, valuables, electronics and a basic toiletries kit should travel on your body, not in the hold — that way a delayed bag is an inconvenience, not a disaster, especially if you are heading straight out to the desert or mountains where shops are scarce. Take a photo of your packed case and tag it inside and out. And confirm your travel insurance covers baggage delay before you fly.