My only real example of this was flying YYZ-MCO with a friend. I had two bags, he had one. I figured we'd just check them all under my name since he had no baggage allowance. The concierge checking us in did not charge for any bags, so I figured she had done that.

Nope, she had checked his under his name, waived the fee, and stuck a priority tag on it.

But he wasn't eligible for priority.

Somewhere along the way, his orange tag was cut off. My bags came out first, his came out last.

Was everyone in your party *G? If not, is it possible the bags were checked under someone else's name?

They will cut off the orange tags if you're not actually priority.