Maybe they keep the priority bag to the side and load it last so that it might be unloaded first.

I read in the newspaper that during one period of labor unrest at Continental Airlines, the baggage handlers purposely delayed priority bags because they thought the elite level members were the ones who travel Continental more and, if these passengers got made at the airline, would fly on another airline. That's evil. That's also short sided because lost of such valuable business hurts the baggage handlers. It doesn't hurt Gordon Bethune or his successor.