Originally Posted by
percysmith
Nope. Case in point - the Missus (OWS on the check in date) checked in with DM friend in HKG F check in on 14 Dec.
She and the DM were both heading to CTS; due to missus flying indirect (redemption) HKG-HND-CTS routing (and the DM bought a direct), Missus's bags were not given F tags by F check in.
Nor J, as she later found out when she picked up her bag in HND.
This resulted in the bag being loaded after all J bags for HKG-HND, which meant the missus didn't make 50 min goshow cutoff at HND JL International-Domestic connections desk - she was hoping to race the DM on the direct so they can board an earlier bus to Niseko if she arrived in HND without delay. She ended up taking the later HND-CTS - as ticketed - but obviously I heard a lot about the J bag tag omission even before came back.
Her OWS status was properly coded on the BP, when she brought it back.
Bear in mind we travelled the exact same HKG-HND route two weeks later, as OWS, properly J tagged, and received our bags right after F and crew bags.
So your assertion that the bag tags alone work for priority is incorrect in HKG.
I've also had cases where tagged or untagged with or without priority tags, the bags came out first or last off the plane... I've had untagged bags come out ahead of priority tag bags on the same flight, even though they were sent in together at the same time. There are always exceptions, but baggage loading is not an exact science, there are multiple reasons why bags come out the order they do, with or without priority tags. Your missus could have just been unlucky.