Newbie Question about Priority Baggage
 

I'm happy to be a part of FT. I am a long time flyer and can't believe that I am just finding this site now. Shame on me!

I really like the Priority baggage plat benefit I receive. But this past weekend on a flight from AUA to JFK, I was surprised that my yellow tagged priority baggage was pretty much the last off the plane. Apparently my flight was filled with many other Medallion members in my situation, since we were all the last to get our bags after an hour of waiting. I spoke to the CS agent at the baggage counter who could offer no insight or explanation. How ofter does this happen? Does anyone know why? My non-medallion friends travelling on the same flight were home even before I received my luggage. Is there any way to prevent this from happening again? Or is it just luck of the draw?

Welcome to Flyertalk, onthegold
The short answer to your question is I believe it really "is the luck of the draw."
Sorry to say.

Prioritiy Baggage
 

It is my belief that the priority tag on the baggage causes the majority of the baggage handlers to toss them aside until last, at least at MSP. I always have to wait for mine. Friday mine was the first priority bag to get dropped from my flight from MEM-MSP. But, over a dozen kettle bags dropped first. This was the quickest I've gotten my bag in months. Baggage handling and PDB service are my only two complaints with Delta.

Priority Bags
 

So I am guess I am pretty much stuck if these happens..

Am I correct in assuming that this is one of those bag bagguage claim situations that I just have to deal tht

I complained to Delta a few weeks ago about it and they sent me a condescending response and basically told me to pound sand.

The only place that I get my bag out first along with other yellow tagged bags is my home airport SHV. They even carry it down to the security scanner for me when i check in not sure of the Diamond Population out of SHV but they treat us well.

Constantly in DCA it comes out whenever, yesterday is was the 4 to the last bag.

Some airports do well, others completely ignore this branded benefit. The major hubs, particularly ATL, seem to ignore the tags completely. DL should at least state that the priority tags are only valid at "participating airports" and list the airports. Why set an expectation and then fail to meet it?

In my last flight from RDU-ATL, our three priority bags were first on the conveyor, right as we made it to the carousel before anyone else from our flight had gotten there. So I guess it works...sometimes.

This is not solely a Delta issue. It's also a problem with Continental. It depends largely on the airport, and at some airports the baggage handlers aren't airline employees, but rather airport contractors.

At SNA, it seems anyway, that the yellow tags come off first. They seem to be stacked on the belt and then the belt is turned on. Everything else comes out afterwards. I'm inferring this by how the yellow-tagged-bags are so tightly packed together and the other bags are more spaced apart...like they were thrown on.

Incidentally... Mine was the first off the belt this week.

in my relatively little experience with priority tagged bags, the yellow tag seems to have absolutely zero effect as to when your bag comes off, or whether it arrives at all. Pathetic really.

Of all my checked bags in 2010 where I had priority tags they were always the first off the plane never had to wait more than 2 minutes after the belt started to move.

It really never worked at LAX until I Tweeted DeltaAssist about the problem and I feel like something was said as the priority tag bags now seem to much more often come off first.

Orlando did a good job with them, some airports not so much. Like the first person said, seems to be a lot of luck involved.