ashill

I disagree strongly that priority tags are necessary for AA to have connections to other international airlines. Alaska, for example, has lots of connections to international airlines but neither places nor respects priority tags.

More relevant is the fact that priority baggage is now an advertised oneworld benefit, which makes it very slightly more difficult for AA to stop doing priority baggage. However, the oneworld ad for priority baggage already excludes BA; no reason in principle it couldn't exclude AA as well. But I do agree that it is relatively unlikely that AA will stop at least slapping priority tags on bags, between the oneworld benefit and the fact that the competition (UA and DL) both do it.

Piedmont767

Don't give me any ideas!! Priority Bag Tags aren't going away.

ScreenGuy

I noticed that the bag tags say "priority" on them so maybe just the orange tag is going away and there will be an automated priority process now? Just speculation...

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

At LAX on AA, even with priority tags, my bags can take up to around 40 minutes to come out. I just flew AS and checked in 2-3 bags on a couple of round trips, and even at LAX, they came out pretty fast. Is it just the way the carrier handles luggage?

Although, the walk from the plane to baggage claim can be fairly long, and I was told that in LHR, they make the walk so long so that you don't spend time standing and waiting for your bags, ruminating about poor baggage service.

SNA_Flyer

Agree 100% with this. I only check bags back to LAX T6 when I have no other choices. Then, I'll usually stop at the Admirals Club after landing and have a drink, then head down. They may be out by then. It's always been a problem.

No question, baggage operations at T6 are horrendous and something needs to be done about it. Funny if I land at TBIT on QF/BA/CX things work amazing. Maybe they need to sack the lot of the handlers and go with Menzies like AS did.

coolcoil

My priority tagged bags come out very late in the game on more than half my flights. All flights between MDE-MIA, which are half my flights right there, they are always near the end. For my domestic connections, I don't think my results are any better than somebody without priority luggage.

I'd be just as happy if they got rid of them. Having them and then not getting the service annoys the heck out of me. I still won't get priority service, but maybe I'll be a little less annoyed.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

When I have checked a bag priority tags worked about 25% of the time, usually at smaller non hub airports. At MIA I think the baggage handlers purposely put priority bags to the side until the end.

swajames

I have to say my own experience with the priority handling is different from the majority here. More often than not mine are among the first off, and I've got a good hit rate of being the first bag on the belt.

Often1

A mountain out of a molehill. It's my understanding that AA and OW are moving to relying on the embedded bar code for priority as it is more reliable and simply works better.

It will be great for those who want their bags faster and life-ending for the DYKWIA's who think that priority tags make them special.

Kate2015

Isn't it already encoded, though? I always thought that's what the P on the claim ticket meant, ans assumed it was encoded elsewhere too.

kop84

I think AA as well as UA/DL started the "priority bags" as an elite perk well before the proliferation of baggage fees. But one of the unintended consequences of baggage fees is the (what I assume) skyrocketing number of gate checked bags.

They ramp guys are trying to get the plane out on time, they aren't worried about putting gate checked bags behind the priority ones. Same with the ramp guys at the destination, they're just trying to pull everything that needs to go as quickly as possible.

This would also explain why Asian Carriers are better as most of their flying is Long Haul where everyone gets a free checked bag. So their ramp people get used to it and better at it.

flyingmusicianlax

AS and DL each have a 20 minute baggage guarantee. Don't get your bags in 20 mins? You get a couple thousand miles.

I flew DL SDF - ATL - CLT back in September. Like clockwork, bags came out 12 minutes after arrival AND a DL employee was handing out free bottled water to waiting customers. THAT is service!

flyingmusicianlax

Or JL, for that matter. Bags delivered in exact order of priority, plus delivery started 10 mins after deplaning. Both in SIN and LAX.

PresRDC

From my observations, AA rarely has a separate tug and cart for priority bags that is delivered to the terminal first (for non-widebody flights, at least). They get unloaded with all the other bags and then delivered. So, at best, it means your bags are first on the belt, but not necessarily before the non-premium bags are fully offloaded.

I saw this at RDU. The RJs used to (and maybe still do), load right by the belt to the customs facility. One time I got to watch AA put the London bags on that belt. All priority bags were in 1 or 2 LD3 containers and one person was offloading them. The problem was that another person was offloading the non-premium bags. As a result, the bags were mixed on the belt. Far better, I thought, if both unloaders worked the premium container before going to the non-premium container. A small switch that would have delivered the bags as a priority while not delaying the completion of baggage delivery.

Austin787

My experience with priority luggage handling is all over the map: sometimes among the first bags out, sometimes in the middle, sometimes near the end. I don't consider the priority baggage tag a benefit. Getting rid of the tags won't affect me.