I have no idea if this post is in the right board but I just wanted to share with you some interesting experiences with my Flyertalk.com Luggage Tags.

The reason I spent the three dollars or so for the tags was to make myself visable to other travelers that may be a member of the Flyertalk.com community when traveling never did I think the following would happen.

During my trip in May to Hawaii I had to check bags in as I would be away for two weeks. They had the tags on them. When my bags arrived to HNL and EWR they were the FIRST ones off the plane. I was very happy and pleased and just figured it was good luck, however an expereince this past weekend has me wondering.

On July 3rd I flew a UsAirways Express ERJ from LGA to BUF to be with family for the holiday. As it is with regional jets I decided to check my bag planeside. I had a a tag on it. As I was sitting on the 'A' side of the airplane I noticed the baggage handler when she went to tag my bag she was a little confused. She called over another bag handler, said something to him, and he looked even more confused. They then went on to put my bag in the cargo hold.

When we arrived into Buffalo I noticed a gentleman standing planeside with my bag in his hand. It was loud on the tarmac and I asked him for my bag. He said would you please follow me. I was wondering what in the world is going on. He took me inside to a quiter area he then said, "My name is John (I forget his last name) I am the ramp manager here at Buffalo for Usairways. At LGA when they saw this tag [the flyertalk.com one] and they noticed it was Priority and Yellow they were not sure what to do with it so they called ahead to inquire about it. I am also curious what does this tag mean and I was just wondering what type of priority you are suppose to get with it [If you have not seen it the Flyertalk.com tag is Yellow and on the bottom is says Priority.]?" This gentleman was not sarcastic and he really seemed he wanted to know about it meant. I was very surprised by this question and his curiosity. I told him about Flyertalk.com and that I really got this tag to meet other members of the community, but I also stated that the members of the board do an awful lot of traveling and put big bucks into the airlines. I said that if you see this tag on another bag, it would probably be another members' tag and the member would really appreciate it if you can handle the bag with care as they travel quite a bit and would love to have their bags handled with priority. He said he would note this, and that he appreciated my help and to enjoy my day.

I was quite surprised by this. Like I said I got the tags to meet other members of the community. But I guess this little perk was nice as well.

[This message has been edited by I LOVE EWR (edited 07-07-2002).]



[This message has been edited by I LOVE EWR (edited 07-08-2002).]