johnny5a

Hello All,

Just back from a trip to Argentina. I had an interesting situation yesterday at EZE.

We were travelling back in WTP, during check-in the agent did not priority tag our bags, I asked whether she was going to do it, the lady replied no, she said she didn't have the orange tags, only club world and club world tags are reserved for business passengers. I said but I am GCH, sorry no was the answer.

So ended waiting at reclaim at LHR for ages. Just a warning for those who can take hang baggage on board and save themselves time at the other end....

I'm about to fire off an email to CS to inform them what happened.

Cheers J5A

OPebble

I wouldn't get too upset. IMHO Priority tagging has b*gger all effect. In fact at some places it causes your bags to come off last!

csdavidson

Do the priority bags really make that much of a difference? I never thought they did...

Genius1

I always thought that on BA, the priority instruction is automatically included in the bag label's barcode, therefore negating the need for any additional tag?

Incidentally, QF use orange tags for status passengers, pink for Business and yellow for First - they almost always work IME ^

johnny5a

ok ... anyway my luggage came out very late, way after all the priority baggage came out (Club tagged)

I was going by the logic that outstations may not easily distinguish priority baggage compared to LHR.

matthandy

I wasn't even aware that priority tagging was a published benefit when travelling in non-premium cabins.

HIDDY

Never mind the priority tag....how was the holiday?

Bit chilly yesterday.

BotB

Hope you had a good trip!

Getting a priority tag on bags has about a 40 percent success rate I find, at least between UK/EU and US locations. I actually find outstations are better at remembering to use them than T5. This has developed into a bit of an amusing game for me when checking in...will they or won't they? Don't even bother asking about it any longer if they don't...I simply smile to myself and carry on. Doesn't matter what class of check-in desk either in my experience.

As others have said, I do believe bags sometimes come out later rather than sooner if priority tagged if experience is anything to go by!

LHR T5 is terrible for the time it takes to get bags after a flight. Only once in the last two years (ca. 30 sectors) have I managed a time under 40 minutes from landing to hand on checked-in bag...Usually waiting at belt for at least 20 minutes...I do almost anything now to travel with carry on only.

johnny5a

It was great! not enough time ;-( Would like to go back again and explore some more of Patagonia and the areas on the western part like Mendoza.

It was rather chilly yesterday afternoon and rained a lot in BA. But we didn't care we were leaving

I'll drop you a link to the photo's if you're interested but I guess you've been to all the places we've been to!

Jimmie76

The nice orange tags should have no effect on the luggage (other than making its owner think that it is) the actual printed tag with your details on it should though.

henners

I wish this one would be put to bed once and for all.

It's almost certainly true that baggage item #123456 has flags for class of travel, status of passenger, etc, but there seems to be no attempt whatever to use it to prioritise bags.

The only times I have observed bags clearly having been prioritised have been when travelling from Asian airports, and there has been a statistically significant stream of orange tagged bags hitting the carousel first. I have never seen anything similar from Heathrow, or from outstations that don't use priority tags, or from outstations not in Asia.

The "it's in your barcode" strikes me as a more palatable way of saying "we don't make any attempt to prioritise bags, so PFO".

ComputerCommuter

It certainly does at Prague. Every time I have taken a checked bag (thankfully not that often) my bag is one of the last.

cornishsimon

FCO & JER was the same on my last trips there.

however i was very pleased with my 2 previous AA to BA connections
MSY-DFW-BOS-LHR all in F, tagged at MSY as priority and bag arrived first at LHR
LAX-SFO-LHR in F & CW, again tagged at LAX as priority and one of the first off at LHR

cs

Jimmie76

I've had my bags off first from BOS and others in the party in WT were waiting for ages, no orange tags on my bag at all. It also depends on how the baggage containers were loaded at the outstation, they can't obviously unload those that were loaded first when the plane arrives. If the container(s) with the premium luggage were loaded first then they ain't gonna be off first. In my experience from / to BOS it is usually pretty good. I've seen people in the WT queue with the orange tags on their bags from their last trip hoping (out loud in one instance) that their bags will be off first.

A P Yu

You are correct it isnt an advertised benefit. Many agents will do it, but if they dont you cant really complain