hi- just did SFO-MIA-KIN-MIA-DFW-SFO in D class (business/first oneworld)

at SFO got premium tagged on check in (the GA commented that "sometimes they do it"), bags came out first in KIN (always cross my fingers that they come out at all there, so that was nice)

left the tags on my bag, then got premium tagged on the return from KIN- at baggage claim in MIA customs, no luck, got them towards the middle- at SFO pickup same deal, they came out in the middle.

Two thoughts on the whole process though:

- I have only been premium tagged once before, on an LHR-JFK-SFO flight when i was op-upped in advance (don't know why, didn't ask), but i fly J/F a lot via upgrades of various kinds, and often check in at First Class counter, so I wonder if they don't tag upgrades and only tag paid J/F.

- I also left my tags on my bags, and I am going to leave them on to see if seeing them will remind the GA agent next time.

YMMV

I think at times the bags are not tagged (no matter if you pay for the full fare or are upgraded) since the agents know the cities you are traveling thru will never honor the tags!!

MIA and JFK are known for IGNORING the orange tags. Supposedly if the flight is what the staff consider a 'true international' flight they do obey the 'rules'. KIN is technically not international .. so at MIA it would be catch as catch can.

I know JFK-BDA (and even last week MIA-BDA) the premium tags are ignored.

That said, ORD-LHR (or reverse) the tags SOMETIMES will mean something . sometimes NOT.

If the agent forgets to put the tag on ASK! You know the drill .. and say .. 'well sometimes it does help'. I was on BA from AMS-LHR in steerage connecting to LHR-ORD-MSP with upgrades. I had no right to ask BA to Priority tag my bag .. but I said 'Im in Business across the Pond, can you premium tag them' and there was NO question. YES that trip helped.

I have also been told by baggage staff .. that One World Priority tags ARE ALWAYS given priority .. and that only sometimes the orange American Premium tags seem to be. WOW .. they ignore their own airline's bags to deference to OneWorld. Go figure!

Help . maybe. Hurt .. probably not. If not tagged .. technically it seems connecting bags are loaded as they arrive .. to be topped off by originating bags. You can sort of tell the AAA-BBB-CCC will have LOT of BBB-CCC bags off first .. then the connecting bags.

The answer I got several years ago is that it only consistently makes a difference on certain equipment which has a separate luggage container for the priority bags. In other words, if it is the type of plane (767?) which takes those metal containers filled with bags, they put the priority stuff in the last one loaded, which is the first one removed. In other circumstances they load and unload bags up the conveyer belt, or in smaller containers, and they don't use the priority system.

Here's what I heard from the AA representative the other day, if the flight has 3 classes of service First, Business and Coach, the tagging works, if it is a two class of service Business and Coach, the tagging does not work, as they don't pay attention on these.

On six arrivals at CDG, AA's premium orange tagged bags did not appear before many, many regular bags had appeared on the carousel.

3 arrivals at LGW this year, the premium bags always came out first.

I was unaware priority premium luggage delivery was offered for domestic flights. I thought it was an international, and intercontinental- Int'l Flagship Service- only service so premium passengers could clear customs more quickly, as in before all the Y pax on their flight might cause a line at customs or before other flights' pax might arrive.

When I first started flying AA a lot 25 years ago, they had an attractive red, white, and blue FIRST CLASS tag that was looped through the old pre-printed/color coded destination tags. It was purely vanity-there was no priority delivery.

Doesn't priority bag handling have more to do with putting special bags in a container that comes out first than the personal feelings of the handlers at the destination?

While premium tagging works on almost every other airline, it's a complete joke at AA. When I once mentioned to a baggage services supervisor who happened to be around when waiting for my bags at SFO coming from a 3-class AFS just how the premium tagged bags were not being offloaded first, I was scoffed; there's obviously no ripercussion at AA for not doing your job right.

I have no doubt that a BA baggage handler (which probably handles AA at LGW) would be for sure reprimanded if the premium bags aren't delivered first!

JFK, on the rare occasion I'm willing to check a bag, always tag the bags premium. The only times the bags come out first are if I've connected to a non-AA airline (oneworld, Swiss, ElAl). AA itself doesn't seem to respect the tags.

Of course, I'd rather just not check the bags in period. That way my bags arrive super early - with me as I leave the plane.

What on earth is an Oneworld Priority tag? Never seen one before. Althought I've seen the Oneworld Transfer tags before.

And then there was that one trip SFO-DFW-CDG and back where outbound, my priority tagged bag, and another couple's I recognized from up front, came out LAST on the carousel at CDG. Coming back through DFW, my bag didn't even make it on my flight back to SFO. I had to wait for the next incoming flight to get my bag.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much better luck without the tag, either.

IIRC, its a tag is white with the OW logo and the word Priority on it so that they know that the back is going onward. I've seen this take on QF and CX, but almost never on AA. I take that back, on a LHR-ORD flight in J they tagged the bag, and it actually worked on arrival at ORD. Got through customs and on to my domestic flight all in about 25 minutes!

Perhaps one of us in our spare time should contact OW and see if they would be willing to grant us license to create our own OW PRIORITY tags for our bags...

[QUOTE=wannabe]JFK, on the rare occasion I'm willing to check a bag, always tag the bags premium. The only times the bags come out first are if I've connected to a non-AA airline (oneworld, Swiss, ElAl). AA itself doesn't seem to respect the tags.

Orange tags always come out first if it is non AA metal (you changed planes somewhere) and it is international Europe and ASIA. The only time you get orange first off in the U.S. is AA flights from Japan as they make sure to put in a seperate container and mark it.

They have a thread like this on the NW site. Same problems the bags come off first half the time at best.

Anyone have any luck with AA honoring other OW airlines premium tags on domestci legs. For example when I take CX and connect to AA back to ORD, the Cathay First or Biz tags are just ignored and my bags comes out in no particular order.