The courier bags were definitely the priority for the ground crew. None of the courier bags had priority tags. And I saw at least one priority-tagged bag get removed to make room for courier bags.
And I don't think all (if any) the couriers were DMs. Coach was sold out. I was
#1 of 8 for 11 empty FC seats. I think we now have an answer for the question, "Who the heck buys DM tags for $50 on eBay?" Answer: Courier companies.
It was all quite strange.
I am wondering what happened to all the couriers with the disruptions in ATL last night? I know I saw two courier bags with IND destination tags, but none made my flight to IND (the last flight of the day). My flight had 40+ standby pax.