Experience at CDG-- true or error?
 

So Im in the EK lounge here in Paris having just checked in Im recenty down to silver after many years as gold having not flown west of India much over the past 18 months, (except London which has many convenient direct options from Delhi).

I have a business class ticket and checked in at that counter. Before my bag left, I noticed that the priority tag (the Blue one) had not been inserted. So I requested the agent to do it. He looked uncomfortable and then did it. I asked him whether anything was the matter and he said they only put these tags on for Golds and Plats -- even if flying in Business, but did it for me as a favour! I thanked him for the favour and decided to seek clarity on FT

Now I flew to New York and back last week and to Abidjan a month ago from Delhi in Business/first and my bag was always tagged priority with the appropriate Blue or Red tag at all three stations So this I know is not a universal rule.
Is this something specific to PAris or a brand new rule that EK has instituted? Any ideas?

Honestly, it sounds crazy. Given that the blue tag says "Business" on them, and you're in Business Class, I really don't know what was going through the agent's mind?!

Or is there really a mysterious and completely illogical CDG rule?

Sounds much more like an inexperienced agent - J ticket = J tag at least. Luckily though, the sorting system generally uses the barcode from memory, so hopefully the bag will still in the right container on the plane/handled properly.

Isn't this the point? The tags are just to make people feel important and special. It's the bar code which determines where the bag goes and thus how it is fed to the carousel on arrival.

If the baggage system is pretty automated then you'll see F and J being put into the first container off the plane - but the "last mile" as it were (i.e. unloading onto the belts), is still manual at some places, so they'll use the colour tags instead to sort - that way F and iO come out before J - and indeed, BT1/2 bags come out before BT3 tags as the BT1/2 bags are on top!

There are some airlines that actually do give priority handling to premium pax bags. EK is one of those airlines. And one of the few changes I've liked at UA since CO took over is the fact that priority bags have a much greater tendency to come out first.

IMHO it's the baggage handler rather than the airline that makes sure premium pax's baggage come out first. Here in BRU, premium bagage seldom arrives first off the belt, regardless of the airline, whereas in DXB/FRA/African airports they usually follow protocol...

Indeed - although different airlines have different contracts with their handlers, as in, some airlines have items such as on-time performance (e.g. 15 minutes from on stand to reclaim belt) and proper priority tag handling as part of the performance element of the contracts, so the airline isn't entirely independent of the equation!

Airlines which are particularly religious about this sort of thing (NH and SQ come to mind) seemingly manage to get this right all around the world, so the airlines definitely seem to have more than a trivial input into the whole thing :)

I get Priority tags, even though I'm no longer Silver!

Indeed, bags are segrated per their bar-code. The tag makes it easier to identify by the bag people.

blue business label: J/cls and EK GOLD Y cls
red first class label: F/cls and EK PLAT J and Y cls

I'd rather vote for a BS from a French agent... And I know my compatriots :)

Total BS from check-in agent.
Rather strange, as agents in CDG are usually the same (though most are outsourced). Maybe, was it an YCL counter agent sitting exceptionally in BCL counter ?