priority baggage for first class/business class?
 

hello all

in light of 9/11, have you experienced "The aim is to release baggage before the first business class passenger is ready to claim it and make sure priority baggage remains priority in practise"?

In my experience, Cathay Pacific is one of the few airlines, which the priority tags actually mean priority. For CX, first class bags are always the first to be released, followed by J class. This procedure has not been changed since 911.

Ditto Carfield's comments. At some airports, CX uses a separate baggage carousel specifically for First and Business. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I've noticed this at LAX before, but not when I flew HKG-LAX in December. I think it depends on whether there is a carousel available. Arrivals to JFK have speedy baggage release too, but I haven't experienced separate carousels for First and Business there.

SQ also occasionally offers the separate baggage carousel for First and Business at LAX.

I have generally been very pleased with the handling of the priority baggages by CX, however, at some airports, it is not always the case. At HKG,NRT,TPE and BKK my first class tugged luggages came out always among the first. But even if there are only a handful of first class passengers, I think CX also adds first class tugs to their Marco Polo members, so there seems there are alot more first class tugged luggages than the actual first class passengers.

fi

You only get first class tags if you are Diamond MPC members, so I doubt if you get "a lot" of First class tagged baggaged on an individual flight. However, different story goes for Business Class tags, which I've seen quite a few in a flight. Knowing you only need be Silver member, and there are close to 50 J class seats on an average longhaul flight, this might not be unusual.

By the way, do the upgraded pax also get priority taggages?

If you mean operational upgrade, from my experience the answer is no. But miles upgrades, yes.

Not only are First Class bags tagged as such but they travel in their own container. As a rule they are always the first to be offloaded and delivered separately to the carousel. For example, at BKK (where you can hear the trucks as they approach the carousels) I've noticed that time between when the First Class bags show up and the rest is quite significant.

CX Ground Staff will actually check your baggage against your name in the flight manifest to see not only if you're on the flight but also if you're an elite member or travelling in J/F class.

Many times connecting from an AA flight where no Priority tags were put when I started with AA, and upon arrival at my final destination, my bag came off first... and I see that the appropriate tag has been placed on the lugguage handle... the original destination tag put on by AA is still in place, so CX did the former when the bag came over from AA.

CX ground staff do this at all of their destinations.

wow, that is something CX really worth some praise...the extra mile.
and they said you (GB) only knows how to complain http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

In my restricted experience of 5 CX J flights last month, I was impressed with the CX Ground handling, especially out of HKG. Premium bags always came out first.
Furthermore, we flew LHR-HKG on BA and connected onto CX to CMB. Our bags were tagged as BA Club World, but when we arived in CMB, they had also acquired CX J Priority Tags during the HKG transit. So confirming what Guy said about CX handlers checking the class of travel on the manifest and tagging bags as appropriate.

NOOOOOOOO !!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

i've just completed my first CX flights in J: SFO-HKG-SIN, DPS-HKG and HKG-JFK. kudos to cathay: bags were deivered on a priority basis the first two times. at JFK, however, they came out near the end, after many coach bags. (but somehow i think this is more of a JFK problem than a CX problem.)

I think BA is the handling agent at JFK. SO that might be a big reason.