Originally Posted by
Often1
You are entitled to check both bags without fee and to have both bags tagged with SP. Your wife was not. I can't blame an agent at a busy station such as BWI for refusing to "uncheck" your wife's bag and then recheck it under your name (It's not quite as simple as pulling the old bag tag off and printing a new one).
For what it is worth, there is no such thing as "linking". DL can insert your PNR in your wife's PNR notes and the same for your wife, but that does absolutely nothing other than perhaps help locate 2 seats in IRROPS.
There is one downside to checking both bags under your name. Baggage loss & damage limits are per passenger, not per bag. While unlikely, if the value of the two bags exceeds the cap, you are trading the SP tag for real money.
Your notion that "resolving" the problem means caving to a customer request for a perk reserved for "elites" is one way of looking at it. The other way is to move on and not argue when you ask for something to which you are not entitled and are denied.
In addition to the maximum claim (cap) consideration, do also bear in mind that one becomes legally accountable for bags checked under oneself.
In this case it was OP's wife so the idea of checking both bags under OP is a feasible workaround.
I would not check a co-worker or fellow traveler bag under my name and be responsible for whatever contents in the checked bag.