AE Valet Priority?
 

I've ended up flying a lot of AE segments this year... with more scheduled... Whenever I valet my carry-on, regardless of where I put it on the cart... it seems to come out among the last... Any hints/tips/tricks? Any thoughts on "priority" valet? Sitting up front doesn't help when yours is the last valet bag to come up...

Be last on the aircraft, maybe the bag will go in the hold last and be out first.

+1

It really varies by which ramper is unloading the bags. Occasionally the yellow tags will come first but quite a bit they are the last off the plane (or towards the middle).

At least AA has yellow vs. red tags so even if it only works 10% of the time its better than UA Express where JDriver's advice is spot on.

The Yellow First Class valet tags have worked well for me.

+1 on the being the last on.

I have never even seen the yellow tags before and I fly a good number of AE flights. In fact, I just got off one. Are these only for people connecting with a F segment? If so, when would you even be given a yellow tag?

I believe that the yellow tags are for the CRJ700 flights with the F cabin (all 9 seats of it).

That makes sense. Thanks.

Anyone ever have success with old CRJ yellow tag on an ERJ flight? Would the ground crew at MIA even know the significance of a yellow tag? I don't think the CRJs are used at MIA.

The process for claiming AE valet bags is the worst facet of flying Eagle for me. At some airports it's a scramble to grab bags off the cart after all passengers have squeezed through the walkway made narrower by passengers waiting for bags, and at other airports it's lining up on one side of the jetbridge while bags are brought one-by-one.

On the latter, having the yellow FC tag helps a lot, on the cart not so much. With the cart, just seems easier on smaller aircraft. Other than that, it's grin and bear it. The entire process seems like something that was just thought up yesterday and is just an interim thing till they build out a real solution.

it's random... too much variance in procedure at different airports, different ramp equipment working differently, and different crews loading and unloading.

Lucky you - the first time I used one my bag didn't come off at all. They were newly introduced and the handlers at ORD didn't know that the FC bags were in a separate compartment. In the end, the captain saw me still waiting and shouted down instructions to the guy on the ground.

At LAX, mine comes out first, but the rolling shelf that they wheel over only makes its way to the "jetway" after it is full. So, doesn't really save any time.

My last favorite aspect of flying AE is that no matter where you stand to wait for your valet-checked bag, you're always standing in the Wrong Place.

There are always AE staffers around to eagerly shout that you're standing in the Wrong Place. Even if you guess which spot would logically be the Right Place to stand and wait, your guess is wrong and you are standing in the Wrong Place. If you're standing on the left side of the jetbridge, that's the Wrong Place, "Everyone must stand on the Right". If you're standing Right Here, that's the Wrong Place. "Everyone must stand Over Yonder", etc. No matter how hard you try, you cannot possibly guess the Right Place to stand while waiting for your valet bags.

If you try to memorize the Right Place, so that you can stand in the Right Place next week when you fly into that same airport, it's an exercise in futility. The Right Place change constantly. Even if you stand in Last Week's Right Place, today you will find that you once again standing in the Wrong Place (and getting yelled at).

Here's my suggestion: round up all the people who's main job is to yell that passengers are standing in the Wrong Place. Put them to work on getting the bags delivered sooner. Passengers will still be in the Wrong Place but at least it won't last as long (and it will be less wear and tear on the staffers' voices).

Must be specific to where you are flying. Common practice at every airport I've ever flown a RJ to is you need to stand on the RIGHT side of the jet bridge (the side opposite the door). This allows the rampers room to line up the bags.

I've never seen anyone scolded for being on the right side in a single file line. Only for people hovering over the door, blocking the entrance to the plane or on the left side of the jet bridge.

PS - This is also the same experience I've had for United Express

Yes. It may be prioritized but most likely bags will come off in a last on first off method or all at once via a cart.

I wouldn't go out of my way to try to get a Yellow tag.

Same here. Those and ExecPlat tags on the bag...