Does Priority really mean Priority?
 

I just got home. My priority tagged luggage came out on the belt in the middle of the back in YWG. While driving home, I tried to remember how often I have waited for luggage that did not come out in front of the pack as advertised by AC. My conclusion: more than my fair share!. My question to the group: are others arriving at the same conclusion ? Or am I getting paranoid in my later years? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Actually, in the past while my bags have come down -- 90% of the time -- in the first grouping with the priority tag, However, this is only in the past few months. Prior to that, even with Cdn, it was very inconsistent.

You are not alone!!! and its not just AC (actually I though AC was pretty good compared to UA) Other star carriers like SQ have it down to science I've found.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/004748.html

I find that there are too many "priority baggages" out there because of todays' growing numbers of elite tier members. Now with Star alliance, any elite members from those airlines can receive a "priority tag". It's not that hard nowadays to achieve elite status which offer baggage priority handling, and as a result, there are way too many bags that have to be handle with priority. My experience from YVR-HKG is that it's not unnatural to wait for 10-15 min until ALL the priority baggages comes out, thus, whether you can REALLY pick up quick is matter of luck.

I think the industry should classify between levels of "priority". On JAL, there are 2 levels of priority, first class, business class. I think at least top tier members and actual business class passengers should be picking up their baggages before the Elite who travels on discounted Y.

cheers*

It's certainly inconsistent but generally speaking my experience has been that bags tagged with the priority day/glo tags come out first i.e. marginally quicker than reg. tagged bags.

One exception to this is YYZ where they have (had - I think they may have removed them - someone please clarify) special priority carousels. I always remember when picking up bags at these carousels that it took the same time as the regular bags.

Vasbyte: It appears to be quite some time since the YYZ T2 International arrivals Priority carousel actually works.

[This message has been edited by Flyaway (edited 04-21-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Flyaway (edited 04-21-2001).]

For those checking your bags on MX -- even if they are originally tagged in Canada by AC, but connecting at an intermediary point to a MX metal flight -- they add another tag for priority purposes. It is a big white and blue one which reads: "Executive Class|Distinguished Passenger/Clase Ejecutiva|Pasajero Distinguido". Wow, did I feel great when I saw that on my bag. Unfortunately, it didn't mean my bag came down among the first ones at CUN...

It appears to be an industry wide problem. My bags have never come out early on a UA carousel even if they had a Star Priorty tag. I though UA bag handlers may have simply not cared about Star tags.

But even on a UA flight from YVR to LAX where my bags where tagged with a UA First Class tag, they still came out close to last. (And given that we waited 25 minutes for the first bag to come out, it was quite a wait.)

Priority bagagge handling is a good indicator if all is well with the labour relations at a particular airport. Unfortunately it rely's upon every airport along your itinerary to be working well in order to get the P bags out first.

At the acceptance point the system needs that station to segregate the luggage properly and notify the downline station exactly where it has been loaded [in the doorway or first container]. At the retrieval station you need the dedication of the ramp crew to dispatch that load of P bags from the aircraft immeadiately without waitinf for any other bags. The connecting station must do both parts properly.

As soon as the employees start to become disenchanted with either local management or the guy at the top ofthe airline, this process is lost. My experience allows me to watch the baggage retrieval and determine how labour relations are going.

In some cases the system breaks down because of resource limitations, such as not enough manpower to retrieve the P bags seperately or as in YYZ the baggage make-up space is limited and dedicating a seperate container for P becomes difficult.

It is impossible to miss the star Priority tag as the baggage tag must be read by the individual in order to sort the luggage and the P tag is stuck right in with the destination code.

If your priority bag is mishandled generally look way up the food chain to the top of the airline to find the problem. It is one of the first things to go when trouble is brewing.

Good post exAc. I always wondered if staff sometimes held back the P luggage to voice a message about labour relations.

My experience with AC so far have been pretty good. In HKG, my bags are always out by the time I clear customs {~10 mins after the plane arrives}. In YYZ, my bags come out in the first batch when they do arrive (sometimes 30 mins after the plane arrives..).

Generally, the only airport where I routinely experienced this problem was LGA.

Occasionally coming off D9S flights bags would be intermingled (baggage isn't in containers on the 9).

I would say that in excess of 95% of the time when I check bags, mine is among the first dozen or so down the belt.

Of course, it's the other 5% of the time that sticks in one's mind...

I waited for one hour and 45 minutes for a priority tagged bag to come onto the carousel in CDG last spring (coming off a CP/BA flight). I definitely agree that the labour relations idea, as a strike was going on and all of the priority bags were the last ones to emerge. Ouch!

I would say that the effectiveness of the priority tags depends a bit on the type of aircraft you are flying.

If you are on a widebody, then your bags would be stored in containers. The priority tagged bags would probably be put in a seperate container and offloaded first (uploaded last). (Which may explain why it is more effective on international flights)

While on domestic flights, you will more likely be on a narrow bodied aircraft which dosen't use baggage containers, but instead they just "throw" your bags into the airplane and they get mixed around.

Not true, when I worked as a Station Attendant for AC, we put the Priority luggage "loose" in the rearward hold on wide bodies . It was not containerized. Generally, an effort was made to get the priority bags out first , but usually it was just one or two guys working on those. On a 767 that can take 10+ minutes. Sometimes, the cans happened to finish first ( atleast one or two) and they were sent in. It would be silly to hold everyone else's luggage until the ELITE members got theirs. Other times, minimal effort was made. However, whenever we sent bags out, they were always had special loading. It really is up to the station attendants on the receiving end.

The only airlines that I've been on where it has made a difference having priority tags have been QF and NZ, where the priority bags seem to be in their own containers, and those containers are off-loaded and delivered with before the others are touched, quite often the bags are on the carousel before you get through Immigration, Customs, and Agriculture. I suppose this is one of the benefits of pay ten grand for a ticket. Also QF even adds the tags to bags if you are connecting from AC in LAX even though you never see the bags, but just give the agent the tags.

When I flew YVR-YYZ last month, my bag along with the rest of the other Priority tagged bags were among the first group to appear on the belt.

[This message has been edited by FlyerAl (edited 04-22-2001).]

Uh, FlyerAl, we waited for a while for our bags, and the priority bags didn't even come out first. This, however, was probably due to the fact that CP 3008 was late leaving HKG, which thus didn't leave much time for priority bags to be sorted before loading in YVR.

But on the other hand, while we are discussing "priority" services, that priority boarding was really helpful. Thanks. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

No problem http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Our bags did take a while, but it seemed that when they appeared, they were grouped together with other Priority tagged bags. I would imagine that those without the Priority tag (like those seaboys http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif )had to wait much longer for their bags.

[This message has been edited by FlyerAl (edited 04-22-2001).]

Well, after getting my bag, I went upstairs to get something to eat (yeah, I like Webbers), went back down to domestic arrivals about 20 minutes later, and a friend who was also on our flight still didn't have his bags (he was coming from HKG).

Oh, and the previous week coming back from DEN, all our priority bags were out within minutes, but we ended up waiting 45 minutes for a pair of skis. Interestingly, after about 30 minutes of waiting, we were told that there were no more bags left from the plane and that we should file a lost baggage report. Well, once we finished the report, the skis finally came out!

Did your friend have a Priority tag on his bags?

No, my friend doesn't have any status, despite 4-5 trips from YYZ to HKG per year. And you want to know why - he's never bothered to collect points! Yeah, once I discovered this, I had a chat with him.

[This message has been edited by Robyyz (edited 04-22-2001).]

Yeah he really needs to get himself status for his bags. You know, I find AC's baggage delivery service very inconsistent. I don't know what their problem is. Other airlines are quicker with their baggage delivery sans Priority tags. For example, AA's hub in MIA which is at least twice the size of AC's in YYZ, can deliver my bags within 5-10 minutes of my arrival. AC obviously needs to work on their baggage service if they expect to be competitive with the other majors.

Sometimes the situation is that there are several flights arriving at the same time, although we do make an effort a 'log jam' happens because of the limited space at the baggage belts. I am speaking of Terminal 1 at YYZ because that is my Area Of Operations.

Yes we do put the 'P' bags in a container all its own and this container does go into the doorway position for quick offload. As for arriving flights at times the 'P' bags are loaded into the bulk and due to the high numbers delivery does take longer.

I would like to say that as a whole at AC there is no labour strife, as far as individuals are concerned I can not speak for them. As far as the comments about the P tags being torn off, I have never witnessed this happening. I know of people who have been dealt with for removing tags.... so I can say it is monitered.

I hope this sheds light on the operation.

Regards YYZAC

Here's my cost saving suggestion for AC: Stop producing the Priority tags.

My experience is that putting the priority tags on luggage has no effect on when that piece shows up. Last summer, I waited at YYZ for 45 min for my priority tagged bag while other non-priority bags were merrily making their way around the belt.

In response to fakecd, I think that there should be no differentiation between high paying (business) and low paying (economy) priority stickers. I would suggest that the frequent flyer is the lifeblood of the airline, whether travelling in economy or business. Getting your bad a few minutes early can save considerable time as you make a dash for the rental or taxi lines before the other passengers.

I would say the priority tags have worked for me 80%+++ of the time. How can you say do away with them? Insanity.

Dorian

Just got back from a full AC LHR -> YYZ flight. All the bags with Priority tags came out dead last -- it was weird seeing all the business class cabin pax waiting around as the pax with non-tagged dwindled away...

It took 1.5 hours from arrival at the gate to get to the taxi rank http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Unrelated point, but immigration was log-jammed with about 4 747 flights including one originating from India -- so there was a long wait. Staff there directed some folks with children to the crew line as the kids were getting cranky with the delay. My AC crew arrived and one of the FAs loudly proclaimed as she was pushing to the front of the line "This is line is for CREW ONLY" -- an ugly scene for a while as some pax explained that they had been told to go there.

I expect this has been discussed before but is there any reason why Canadian immigration does not have lines for Canadian residents like virtually every other country?

ACCORD: There is an immigration hall in T2 which has the Canadian citizenship line. However, it seems to be rarely used!

Simple reason is that the PIL (primary inspection line) is Customs, not immigration. And Canadians are just as likely to merit referral to secondary inspection as visitors. (Just for Customs secondary, rather than Immigraiton secondary).

In many airports, (e.g. LHR), you clear immigration, first. So it make sense to separate people who need immigration processing from your citizens who don't.

American customs facilities in US airports have special lines for US Citizens Only. Canada Customs should have more "Canadians only" lines at airports. This way they can assign the agents at the "non Canadian" lines for more stringent inspections. It would make life much easier for us average Canadians http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

FlyerAl, I don't think they do. I'm pretty sure it's Immigration first (white shirts, where they ask questions and check your documents), then customs (blue shirts, where they take the card and sometimes ask questions). And there usually isn't a separate line for customs.

Now why we can't put immigration first and then customs, is another question. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

andrew

You're correct, Andrew. The first line is an immigration check (although I think it's the case that customs officers do double duty in Canada, serving as both a preliminary customs and immigration screening). After you've gone through PIL you flash your card to someone who may refer you to secondary for immigration and then you show the same card to the customs officer on the way out of the baggage hall. Never had to go to immigration secondary, so I have no idea if they use a different code on the card for that.



[This message has been edited by Academic (edited 04-29-2001).]

We don't put immigration first, because our visa system is more stringent than the American's. For example, we don't issue 10 year multi-entry visitor visas. So when people show up, they are less likely to pose an immigration risk.

However, customs has the potential for serious mischief. And it is Canadians who present the biggest risk (and Canadians who should be subjected to higher levels of scrutiny, accordingly).

But what about Canada's illegal refugee problem? Or the terrorist organizations basing themselves in Canadian cities? Shouldn't customs be focused on inspecting these situations more than inspecting the average Canadian who travels down south for a 1 week vacation?

[This message has been edited by FlyerAl (edited 04-29-2001).]

Regarding the "priority baggage" at YYZ. I arrived from LHR on AC, my bags had been tagged with the snazzy dayglo identifier.

When I arrived at the baggage carousel, all the priority bags had been neatly arranged on the floor beside the carousel, while all the "regular" bags remained on the carousel.

I am presently in the snow in YTT. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
I watched the belt and about 80% of PRIORITY tagged luggage arrived in the last batch. It really is hit and miss.

I am presently in the domestic MLL in YYZ, waiting to see if my priority-tagged bag will come in on the next flight from YGK so I can carry it through US customs and immigration and continue onto MIA. My flight from YGK bulked-out, and some bags were left behind.

Should still make my scheduled flight, but I was hoping to stand-by for an earlier one.

Actually Canadian Customs inspectors have many roles at PIL. They are Customs officers, immigration officers and screen for other agencies such as Canadian Food Inspection Agency etc... The PIL officer is the one who usually does the referral and codes the card. Referral is also possible at other points in the system. Customs at Land Borders tried to have seperate lanes for Canadians but this largely failed as well you guessed it our foreign friends didn't usually pay much attention to which line they were using.

FlyerAl:

How many illegal refugees have you seen de-plane?

As if the other posts on this topic haven't covered it well enough, *Customs* doesn't deal with illegal refugees, or refugees at all (one wonders how that adjective seems to turn up everywhere, despite any tribunal's finding).

Immigration does. Andrew Webber actually has a good suggestion (one that is operationally in practice already) of putting Immigration first. Next time you clear yourself and goods for entry to Canada, think about which questions are asked first (normal order is citizenship, residency, purchases/gifts). A bass-ackwards questioning, however, would ask Canadian residents whether or not they were bringing in any gifts worth more than $60CAD, a question better suited for non-residents.

As for wild conspiracy theories of vast legions of terrorist organizations basing themselves out of Canadian cities...what makes you so confident that these terrorists were more likely born abroad than in Canada?

(Weren't we talking about something entirely different, anyway? Right, priority tags. Let's put dayglo priority tags on all Canadian citizens and regular-coloured ones on landed immigrants. Anyone with a Minister's permit, employment authorization or student authorization gets a regular tag. Those travellers not falling into these two categories will be beaten until they confess.)