Originally Posted by
Often1
The marketers laugh when they see the tags. It's another person who has fallen for the hype that you are "elite" because you've got a plastic tag. The tags do nothing (that is taken care of, if it works, with priority tags on the bag tag) and nobody is going to bow and scrape because there is a tag on your carry-on. Agents accessing your record can see your status onscreen.
I have seen UA agents at ORD international baggage claim retrieve and hold priority bags (presumably by visual of orange tags) in one fixed spot so those customers would not have to stand around the carousel.