mec72

They're used for decoration.

themax

Priority tags are used for decoration (i.e. to make you feel better). Ground handling crews scan each bag and place them either in containers for priority or regular delivery (the priority tags do help the ground crew identify priority bags, but it's the scan of the bag tag that matters so even if you placed your own priority tags on your bag from a prior trip it would not go priority this time if the scan of the tag didn't indicate priority). Crew luggage is usually placed with F baggage. In a perfect situation when unloading, ground crews are supposed to put the F and crew baggage on the belt first, then club/priority, and then the rest of the baggage, but at most outstations BA uses 3rd party ground crews who are only interested in getting all bags off-loaded as soon as possible (i.e. time = money) and usually pay little attention to which container or bags they off load first. I travel regularly with BA through the following stations and experience the following:

MIA - Baggage tagged with yellow F priority tags no matter which cabin of travel I am in (I have a GC). When arriving at MIA, it makes no difference how the bags are tagged, everything comes off together haphazardly. This has been the case for 20 years.

YYZ - Baggage is tagged with yellow tags in F and orange if in J. No priority tags in W or T (even with a GC). When arriving at YYZ, it makes no difference how the bags are tagged, everything comes off together haphazardly. In my experience this is the worst airport in the entire BA network for baggage delivery, sometimes in the winter the bags take up to 90 minutes to be delivered.

LAX - Baggage is tagged with yellow tags in F and orange if in J, W, or T (I have GC). When arriving at LAX, it makes no difference how the bags are tagged, everything comes off together haphazardly.

MAD - Priority Baggage is no longer tagged with tagged with orange tags no matter which cabin of travel I am in (I have a GC). Instead, when travelling in J the words "Priority Baggage" is printed on the tags themselves. When arriving at MAD, it makes no difference how the bags are tagged, everything comes off together haphazardly and takes up to 45 minutes.

LHR - Baggage is tagged with yellow tags in F and orange if in J. No priority tags in W or T (even with a GC). When arriving at LHR (T5) yellow tags come first, then orange. Baggage delivery is usually quick.

onobond

My experience is the same as yours, but also, 3 times of 4, KUL shines out with prompt delivery of prio bags

AlienInTheFatherland

Well I would add HAM, FNC and PMI to the list (although the latter two were on AB which ain't going to happen any more).

quemalo

Every single time I fly F or J and check luggage it is amongst the last bags to arrive.

LordBuckethead

The answer to this hasn't changed since the first hundred times it was raised!
At LHR and LGW, the baggage system is clever enough to tell the agents which bin to load your bag into - F, J, or W/M. All bags are scanned and allocated according to where you are sitting, not status (hence the weird message on the oneworld website). The tag serves two purposes and two purposes only:
1. At certain outstations, where it can be used to identify priority connections
2. (By far the majority) To make a certain type of person feel better about themselves
It does not in itself signify that baggage is to be handled differently.

And on the majority of occasions, it works. The F/J bins are normally loaded nearest the doors (subject to trim of course) and offloaded first at destination, followed by everything else.
There is one small additional caveat that is often forgotten. Baggage trucks at LHR can only be three dollies long, and a longhaul flight might have 9 or 10 baggage bins, so most are closed and dispatched to aircraft side well before the check-in cut-off of -45. Given what we've just said about wanting to load F/J bins nearest the door, these are normally the last to be closed, so any late-accepted (or last-minute-connex) bags will be thrown in them. What would you rather, your bags mingling or a delayed departure? So when you get to the other end, the first bags off will belong to those clever souls who checked in last-minute, then F bags, then crew, then J, then everyone else. Next time you're first off at LHR watch the belts from a standing start, you'll see this in action.

Ancient Observer

I have never been persuaded that tags do anything other than stroke one's ego. When I used to fly a lot - in the 90s, mainly, they meant nothing.
The only place that consistently delivered/delivers bags quickly is Changi.

Jed

FWIW, we recently got orange club tags from LHR on a trip to BSL in ET. And the same in BSL on the way back (twice, as the snow caused a cancellation)

Flame3601

Out of interest, are crew bags given crew bag tags ? If so can I buy them on eBay - you know the same place I bought my gold bag tag.

bisonrav

Data point then - flying from KCH to LHR via SIN in WT in November, bags were priority tagged and came out first. Generally when I've been flying in WT+ from Heathrow and the bags have been orange tagged they've come out fast at the final destination. Almost always in WT+ on the ->LHR route they've been out within 3 or 4 minutes.. Slowest I can remember was at LHR when I was actually booked in F and properly yellow tagged.

I think they're screwing with our heads.

flyingscotsman

GLA-LGW-BGI (Barbados) a couple of weeks ago and our bags with yellow 'FIRST' tags came out 1, 2 and 4. But I'm fairly sure that was pot luck that the First baggage can was actually loaded correctly and we were lucky with how it was unloaded.

Intrestingly flying back Club BGI-LGW-GLA our bags got blue 'Club World' tags and not orange priority tags, and the check in agent said that they would make sure our bags were loaded as 'Club' bags and not just priority bags - only silver and gold in WT WTP get the orange tags out of BGI.....so apparently they manually sort through club and first bags into seperate contaniers at BGI?

snaxmuppet

Thanks for all your comments and stories. I am quite disappointed but not surprised. It would be a relatively easy way for BA to add value to the premium tickets though to actually make those tags result in a priority offload and to the baggage claim.

LordBuckethead

Did you read the explanations above? Those who buy 'premium tickets' DO get priority handling of their bags. Those with shiny cards sitting at the back don't - the loading is based on ticketed cabin only, for technical reasons relating to the scanning process and the 'label' attached to the relevant electronic record.

snaxmuppet

Yes I read it. But it isn't true... at least not in my experience.

In my experience buying a premium ticket makes no difference at all at any of the locations I have traveled to/from. I have flown both Club and First this year several times and on none of those flights was there any preference given to our bags over non-ticketed bags.

Nimrod1965

I thought they had been done away with as part of the cost cutting; travelled CE from LGW to TFS back in October and didn’t have any priority tags, my 2 cases were amongst the first ones off.