Yes, it's usually a mixed bag for me, too. But on a recent ZRH - JFK - SFO trip, they were first up at the customs check (JFK) and also at SFO. The ZRH agent had checked them with those orange "Premium" tags--this time they worked!

I wonder if they are paying more attention to bags at SFO after some big post-new year's snafus, when people were waiting 1 hr-plus to get bags off of 767 flights.

-Hayden