I am not sure this is the right forum. Perhaps this should be in Travel Buzz, or the Delta Forum or SkyTeam. But as it is Randy's tags I am talking about, I decided to put it here.

I don't know what life is like outside of SkyTeam, but priority luggage tags have never seemed to matter much to baggage handlers at DL, AF, or AZ. First Class passengers and Platinum Medallion members wait as long as anyone else to get their suitcases.

I wasn't even theoretically eligible -- I rarely fly in front of the cabin and am only Gold Medallion.

I tried putting my GM tags on my luggage but they were worthless. I usually begin my trips with Alitalia and they have always put their own priority tags on when I requested it but these, too, never helped.

Delta Board members have repeatedly said that their Platinum priority tags didn't seem to be worth much.

A few weeks before a recent TLV-MXP-ATL-PBI (and return) itinerary, I got the FlyerTalk tags. I only bought them to make myself known to other FlyerTalk members, and didn't know they had "Priority" written on them. More than that, because they are bigger than the Delta tags, and the yellow seems more fluorescent, baggage handlers seem to notice them more.

My first flight with them -- TLV-MXP -- had my suitcase be the very first off the plane. This has never happened to me before.

On the MXP-ATL leg, I was among the first few to get my suitcase -- giving me a very big advantage in making my connecting flight (in ATL you have to check in again after an overseas flight).

ATL-PBI: Guess what? Again, my suitcase was among the first ones.

On the way back, I decided to try some experiments. I had bought a second suitcase and had been given a Delta Prime Medallion tag. One piece of luggage had the FlyerTalk tag, the other the Delta. When Delta delivered my bags in MXP, the FlyerTalk one was the third out and the Delta one came about 20 minutes later.

MXP-TLV (on Alitalia), I had an AZ priority tag put on along with the Delta. Again, the FlyerTalk suitcase came out immediately and I had to wait for the one with both the Delta and the AZ blessing.

Five flights and in each case the FlyerTalk tag worked! I am never getting on a plane without it again!