Priority Bag Tags
 

Have just flown rt ATL/LGW in BE. Both legs the check-in agents put the 'Priority' tags on my bags. On arrival my bags were certainly not anywhere near the first out, in fact on the return leg they were the last. There was just me and 2 others from the BE cabin waiting for our bags while everyoner else had collected theirs and left.

Is this a normal occurence for Priority bags? I am wondering if next time I should just tell the check-in agent not to put the tags on there, as then I might have a better chance of getting the bags earlier.

I know the baggage handlers probably don't really care that much as they are handling so much baggage. But how are those 'Priority' tags supposed to work?

Yes.

The tags have one of two effects, I'm not sure which-
either zero effect, or they get priority in loading the bags on the plane first, so they are deepest in the hold and therefore last to be unloaded.

I found the best effect of Priority tags was with AF (for all else the didn't do well). In both PHL and FCO those bags tagged were thee first that came out.

With DL, BA, and others....a bit of a toss up at best.

Dave

AZ did a decent job delivering my bag first off at FCO. NW my bag came off dead last with the priority tag on it.

Hit or miss with all airlines in my experience (DL, BA, SQ, OZ etc etc).

The logistics of getting it right consistently are a nightmare, as too many variables involved.

I don't think the priority tag does any harm though.

My experience with Priority Tags has been hit or total miss. I have had my bags come off first, last, and I have had them left behind.

Only time I ever noticed a difference with the priority tags was on UA and CO.

I never do anything to make my bag stand out from all the others, and that includes PRIORITY tags. I want mine to look as nondescript as possible.

Agreed. I think they see the tag and deliberately then screw with us.

I only say this because I had to check my softsided camera case about a year ago and asked if I could get a few yards of their "fragile" tape to wrap around the case. The TA advised me not to do that because it would just give the handlers too much joy. I asked him if he was serious and he then told me that when he was a handler they'd manhandle such luggage on a regular basis.

Back in October on a ATL/LHR roundtrip the Priority luggage tags served the intended purpose with our luggage being some of the first bags on the carousel 3 out of 3 times (since you have to claim and recheck your luggage for ATL international arrivals). I'm flying ATL/LGW with the return LHR/ATL later this week. Hopefully we'll bat a thousand again!

The tags make great bookmarks.
The curbside check-in guys at SAN used to always put them on my bag when I was upgraded to First. But never saw my luggage first in ATL.

I always thought the first bag to the carousel was a dummy and didn't belong to anyone, because it would just sit there going around and around...:D

Unfortunate but very true. A friend of mine once worked for UPS. He told me ANY package marked "fragile" or handle with care was purposely mishandled.

I worked for Delta and it was the policy to make sure PBs were loaded last so that they would come out first downline. What happened in ATL, CVG, DFW, or SLC if there was a connecting flight involved is not clear. Though, being loaded last would seem to give the bags the best chance to make the connecting flight.

Whether the bag came out first or not under this scenario is not clear to me.

One thing that did help enormously was when my bags were tagged STBY because my upgrade hadn't cleared yet at check-in. Though I haven't noticed if they do that anymore.