I call it the McDonald's Line Approach versus the Taco Bell Line Approach. At McDonald's, you pick a line and stand in it. The people in front of you order their food and then wait for it to be made up (for better or for worse, the food at McDonald's seems to be more or less pre-done, so it doesn't take that long for the order to be processed) before you are able to be helped. If you get stuck behind some bozo ordering a meal for a 42-person school group--especially 42 custom-made items--you're stuck (unless you jump into another line). It's not efficient.

At Taco Bell, however, everyone queues up (to borrow a wonderful British term) in one line, even if there are four or five order-takers. If someone has a long and complicated order, no worries--the next available cashier can help whoever's next. (To further make things efficient, picking up food is done separately, so people with a quick soft taco to-go can get their food speedily and not have to wait for that long and complicated custom order to be processed first.)

The Airport of the Future concept seems like it follows the McDonald's Line Approach. It's a better use of floor space, but it's not fair to people who get stuck behind, as the OP did, a family of four that takes an hour to process and a guy who takes 20 minutes. The one-line-many-agents approach is fairer; no one likes to wait in a long line, but as long as it moves quickly, it's not too bad. (Same reason why I don't like the split security set-up for B and C concourses: if you get in the wrong one, you might move at half the speed of the other one. The central exit is aesthetically pleasing but not the most efficient or fair.)

I do have to ask: why does it take so long for AS agents to print bag tags and stick 'em on? Is it poor computer software? Is it lengthy and unnecessary corporate policy to have to put in a whole bunch of information before printing the bag tag? The whole transaction should take about 15 seconds per bag, especially since the people using the bag checks should have already checked in; in my experience, though, they have to spend a good 45 seconds per bag punching things in their computer before it spews out a tag and another 20 seconds attaching it. Airport of the Future would work fine if it was quick and efficient like this. (I loved the pre-9/11, pre new-concourse-C AS bag check at ANC: print your own tag, stick it on, and put it directly on the conveyor belt via that little 4'x4' hole in the wall...now THAT was quick and easy!)

One note to the OP: I noticed a couple of weeks ago that there is a series of three self-check kiosks that say "First Class/MVP" above them (they're the ones closest to the central atrium railing) but, as far as I could tell (or as far as my fuzzy memory recalls), none of the bag checks is labeled First Class or MVP. Is there a separate FC/MVP line? Surely there is, but if there is, I'm not sure where it is. Are you sure you were standing in the F line, or were you standing in line at the baggage check next to the three FC/MVP kiosks thinking it was an FC/MVP baggage check? (I work at the airport, so next time I go into the terminal, I'll have to re-scope the layout. After all, I'll be MVP here in the not-too-distant future and will certainly need to know where to go--except maybe not, as they don't sound too efficient in that line...)