Priority Baggage Handeling
 

(I'm sorry if this topic has been brought up before and hacked to death already - but it's been bothering me for quite a while now.)

Do the nice little red first class/priority handling tags on my bag really mean anything anymore? I can't remeber the last time my bags come out anywehere but in the middle of the pack.

Does it actually work?

I find that generally when leaving SFO to DTW or MSP it works. The return leaves something to the imagination.

MEM-AMS always gets the red tagged bags out first but everything else from MEM seems to roll out in whatever order.....usually first if I am last to check in and last if i am first to check in. I guess the real reason for the tags is to show as u walk thru the airport that u sat in F/C on NW/KLM but to the bag handlers it is just another bag.

Well, let's just say IF I do get my bag - I'm thrilled! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

So I generally check my bags only when the family is "in tow" with me! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Does it actually work?

Well, if your bag is coming out in the middle of the pack - it is working! Without it the bag would come out dead last.

My permanent CO Priority Handling tag is a notice to all rampers to "Put this Bag on the Belt Last!"

Enjoy your middle of the pack status.

Last December, my mother flew in business class to Manila from Detroit. Guess what? All the business class pax were the last ones to receive their bags in MNL!

When I flew to MNL a few days later, 3 out of 4 bags came out within a few minutes of the carousel running. I got impatient with my last bag, and I asked a baggage handler if its coming. After mentioning that I was first class, he immediately radioed someone inside the aircraft to find it and immediately place it on the carousel.

"First/business class" is the magic word to getting service.

From previous experiences, int'l first/business class pax in DTW get their bags pretty quickly.

GRR_Flyer, when I lived in Tokyo and traveled elsewhere in Asia on NW, my red tagged bags generally came off the plane in the first 10%. A few times in Taipei they were the first on the belt. I credit this to the Tokyo ground staff.

Coming back to Tokyo from Asia was generally good, but in about a third of the flights all the first/business luggage would come out in the middle of the pack. This is all on flights originating in a location with only one NW flight per day--with no transfers. I credit that to the baggage handling done entirely by the originating airport staff and out of the airlines' control.

But now I'm flying to Southeast Asia from Saint Louis with no stopovers--bags checked thru, all on NW--going out OK. Again I credit the Tokyo staff for sorting out what they get coming from the US before sending it on to the final destination. Coming back to Saint Louis-- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif.

Priority bag handling lateness blame can primarily be put on the bag handlers at your departing city. This is because these bags must be put on the plane LAST, so they come out first, or so says my friend who is a CO baggage handler.

It hasn't gotten any better..
 

TTU response this week:

"Admittedly, our priority luggage benefits for our Platinum Elite members
has been an ongoing challenge for us. However, we have committed to
priority baggage handling to our Platinum Elite members and it is quite
apparent from you documentation that we have failed to provide this
service on several occasions. I am truly sorry for the inconvenience
and frustration you experienced. How disappointed you must be,
particularly when you have experienced this benefit while traveling on
Continental Airlines. You can be sure the we will be giving this very
important issue the serious attention it deserves. I will be sharing
your candid comments with the executives responsible for overseeing our
ramp operations. We are confident that this issue will receive close
attention."

"Handeling" ?

Hallelujah!

It had never seemed to make a difference to my luggage. The earlier I check in the later my bags come off the carousel.

Last week flying FNT-DTW-IAD I was EUA'ed on the latter leg into WAS. While the FNT CSA "priority-tagged" my checked bag, it still doesn't matter. I got to the claim area at Dulles and started counting. The first priority-tagged bag that came off the belt was #21, the second (mine) was #44.

I stopped counting after I grabbed my garment bag, but I imagine their were still several elites and FC pax still waiting after I left as FC was full inbound.

On and off topic rant.
 

Anymore I could careless if they put that little yellow piece of paper on my luggage or not. The baggage handlers could careless about it. I once had a Paid F ticket to hawaii and when I got to cleveland with my friend it was raining. When I landed in HNL and got to the hotel I finally found out that all my clothes were still wet because CLE left them out in the rain. This last time I flew honestly showed me that they didn't care. I was flying TOL - DTW - AMS - WAW. Well I got to TOL in enough time to check my luggage get my seat changed to 1C and go upstairs and have a drink in the bar before the flight to DTW. (before anyone ask why not just drive up to DTW its 12 a day cheaper in parking and a heck lot easier enviroment.) Anyways my flight 3155 was scheduled to leave at 1:25 and arrive in DTW at 2:17pm. It was initially delayed until 140pm thats fine. I would have asked the gate agent what time they were expecting the flight since any later would have made my connection in DTW very tight and didn't want to lose my WBC seat. But at TOL there is no gate agent until one is need. The CSR stay at the Ticket counter until needed at gate level. AT 2pm still no plane and I hear over the loud speaker will Mr. Notyouraveragejt please call XXX from the nearest white phone. I call the number they give me and tell me first that the plane will not arrive until 3pm. She tells me that she has looked and there are no more WBC seats on todays flights to AMS. Even if there were the only one I could take instead of flight 40 is 68 because of my connection to WAW and my GF is meeting me there and alot of stuff where I couldn't call her until she was already in WAW to pick me up that I was going to be late. Anyways they give me the option to leave the airport drive up to DTW with no compenstation for the parking difference because it was a weather delay. Thats fine policy is policy. I leave the airport at 210pm and amazingly as if I were speading or something I make it in under an hour to DTW. By this time its 310pm I pull into long term parking and spend about 15 minutes looking for a parking spot until I find one. I grab all my luggage that the TOL agents gave me back that I have checked. I run as fast as I could to the garage counter to encounter CSR that were leaving for the day and would not help me get a new boarding pass and check my luggage because I had lost the orginial boarding pass somewhere in this whole shuffle. Once a new very HELPFUL, at the time it seemed, CSR came to help me saw I had a WBC ticket and called down to whom ever and asked if she could get a bag on flight 40 and once she got off the phone she said that they could. ^ at this point I am thinking awsome everything worked out. Before I leave the garage counter I double check with that CSR that its still leaving out of gate A28 again I am thinking ok everything will be ok. So I get to TSA and they waste more precious time because by this time its 25 minutes until departure. Id rant about how horrible TSA was but thats a whole other rant. So I am running proboly looking like an idiot down to gate A28 once I get to the gate I see the board says amsterdam and the gate door is closed. So I am now freaking out because I think I miss the flight then a second later I notice its for later flight to AMS. So I run to the first board I can find and see that Its now listed at gate A66 complete other side of airport. So I start running the mile to other end of airport and THANKFULLY THEY ARE STILL BOARDING. ^ So I get on the plane everything there was fine. Land in AMS a half hour early at 520am local time and wait now over 3 hours for my connecting flight to WAW. So I just chill in the airport wait for the flight and finally comes time to get on the KLM flight of course weather and other delays on KLM part so now they have an EXTRA 2 hours to get my bag on this flight. Ok now we finally leave and land in WAW I get through passport controll and head to the baggage claim to come to find my suprise that there is no luggage in WAW for me. So I go thru customs meet my GF over 2 hours later than should have been and head to lost luggage office where in WAW theres only one person for all the airlines in WAW. And we finally find the office there is no one there. This I can not blame on KLM or NW because it is run by Lot Ground Service. They file the baggage report and tell me it will be there tommorrow. Thankfully at least they delivered on there promise.

Ok again sorry for the long rant just my way of saying nobody really cares if there is that little yellow piece of paper on my baggage tag say priority or not.

How's this for priority...

Flying AMS-EWR in WBC with priority tags on my bag which was checked-in 3 hours early. It wasn't one of the first bags to come out at EWR. It wasn't in the middle set of bags. It wasn't even the last bag out. They actually just didn't put it on the plane. That's priority!

HMMMM am I starting to see a partern here????????

My experience over the past couple of years has been what feels like lower odds than simple random would deliver.

I have seen the bags in front about 4 times.

Mixed in the middle most of the time.

On the back end about 10 times or so (the very LAST on the belt once).

My first time with the yellow tag was always my best.
DTW-NRT-CAN
Priority tagged my backpack. I was first through immigration (a new window opened just as I walked up, I was around the 5th person off the plane), my bag was the first off the plane, therefore was first through customs.

Went from plane to taxi within 15 minutes.

The problem is simple.

The departing baggage handlers take great care to honor the priority tags, and make sure your bags are loaded on the plane first. ;)

NWA just needs to start issuing No-Priority tags. Then the baggage handlers at the departing location will load them last and you'll get them first.

TTL is what I say... I got 10,000 miles for mentioning my troubles with late bags twice in a row.

Why this is irritating
 

Since FC passengers get off the aircraft first, they paradoxically have to wait LONGER for their bags if they do not come of earlier. This is especially true on international flights when getting through passport control early is important.

Northwest sucks at handling these tags..CO doesnt
 

Continental is great at getting my bags off first...

Oddly, I'm a NW Platinum and it never comes off first :(

So most recent flight IAH-DTW-(KIX)-TPE, WBC tagged bags were out first including my mom's.

Seems that international gateways load the flights ok and they come out OK. Domestically, it's a mess....

The same here. I just flew SAT to HNL and return on CO. Bags came off first
both times. Are you paying attention NW operations?

^I recently flew to SAT with a non-elite friend so I got the "priority" tag and he didn't. His bag came out before mine (actually, way before mine) in both SAT and MKE. DL is just as bad. CO priority is the only one that seems to work.

Same thing happened to me on a MSP-ORD flight... but in this case, they left behind the luggage for HALF the passengers on an A320. When filing my claim, I joked to the agent that it had a priority tag, so it must have been the first one they forgot. She laughed and thanked me for not being a royal prick (like most PAX).

As a bag handler for NWA maybe I can shed some light on the issue.

When you receive your bags in asia or europe the bags are generally loaded into containers and the flights have a dedicated container(s) for priority bags and are loaded at the door of the aircraft, thus are the first off and first dumped. It generally works the same way coming back to the states, the only exception being that sometimes some gate checks are loaded in the bulk compartment of the aircraft and take longer.

The problems come when there is a domestic flight, where there are a number of issues ranging from short turn times at the hubs to outsourced stations, and beleive it or not, actually not seeing the priority tag.

We honestly try to get the priority bags off first, but seperating them from the rest of the bags is sometimes harder than one can imagine especially in poor weather,plus we are trying to get everyone their bags as quickly as possible.