Originally Posted by
wutlol
So I’ve had this now happen to me twice. Flying from PHX to SFO and they’re asking people to gate check bags. I’m usually not in a rush and I specifically asked whether my bag would be gate checked or sent to the baggage hall. Now, having had this happen previously, I was sure it was the latter but was strenuously assured it would be available at the gate.
Roll up to SFO and, of course, nothing. The kicker is that the bags were delayed and I ended up waiting nearly an extra hour.
Am I missing something or are the gate agents simply misinformed on where gate checks are actually performed?
In my experience, if it is a mainline AA flight, then any gate checked bags will be tagged to be delivered at the baggage claim area. These will have a long printed bag tag that is attached by the GA and you are given the baggage claim tag. I suggest to always assume a gate checked bag will be delivered at baggage claim if it is on a mainline AA flight (B737, A321, etc.).
I suppose the gate agent casually intermixed the terminology which led to the confusion.
The only time I've experienced gate checked bags that are returned at the airbridge is on regional jets (CRJ200, E75, etc.) where the plane has smaller overhead bins that will not accommodate the full size roller bags. These are tagged with the bright colored tags (not sure what color they use these days, haven't done this in a while). Those are "valet checked" and put in the baggage hold, and returned gate-side at the arrival airport.