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NEW YORK: With so many people flying over the holidays, there's a good chance some of these travelers will end up at their final destination without their luggage. Nearly four of every 1,000 passengers filed a complaint about mishandled bags in 2010 — about 2 million reports in all.

But did you know that when your luggage is lost by an airline, federal regulations allow you to collect up to $3,300 in compensation for what's missing? Airlines don't exactly advertise that prominently. And now Delta Airlines is in hot water for how it communicates with its passengers about missing bags — facing a lawsuit for allegedly suggesting that consumers are only entitled to a tiny fraction of what's permitted by law.

"Delta uniformly ignores its contractual obligations to reimburse passengers for expenses while their bags are delayed," says the lawsuit filed earlier this month in US District Court in Miami. "Such tactics allow Delta to pocket millions and millions it would have had to pay out if it had abided by its contracts with passengers." The lawsuit seeks class action status.

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