Magic Priority Tags
 

I am not sure this is the right forum. Perhaps this should be in Travel Buzz, or the Delta Forum or SkyTeam. But as it is Randy's tags I am talking about, I decided to put it here.

I don't know what life is like outside of SkyTeam, but priority luggage tags have never seemed to matter much to baggage handlers at DL, AF, or AZ. First Class passengers and Platinum Medallion members wait as long as anyone else to get their suitcases.

I wasn't even theoretically eligible -- I rarely fly in front of the cabin and am only Gold Medallion.

I tried putting my GM tags on my luggage but they were worthless. I usually begin my trips with Alitalia and they have always put their own priority tags on when I requested it but these, too, never helped.

Delta Board members have repeatedly said that their Platinum priority tags didn't seem to be worth much.

A few weeks before a recent TLV-MXP-ATL-PBI (and return) itinerary, I got the FlyerTalk tags. I only bought them to make myself known to other FlyerTalk members, and didn't know they had "Priority" written on them. More than that, because they are bigger than the Delta tags, and the yellow seems more fluorescent, baggage handlers seem to notice them more.

My first flight with them -- TLV-MXP -- had my suitcase be the very first off the plane. This has never happened to me before.

On the MXP-ATL leg, I was among the first few to get my suitcase -- giving me a very big advantage in making my connecting flight (in ATL you have to check in again after an overseas flight).

ATL-PBI: Guess what? Again, my suitcase was among the first ones.

On the way back, I decided to try some experiments. I had bought a second suitcase and had been given a Delta Prime Medallion tag. One piece of luggage had the FlyerTalk tag, the other the Delta. When Delta delivered my bags in MXP, the FlyerTalk one was the third out and the Delta one came about 20 minutes later.

MXP-TLV (on Alitalia), I had an AZ priority tag put on along with the Delta. Again, the FlyerTalk suitcase came out immediately and I had to wait for the one with both the Delta and the AZ blessing.

Five flights and in each case the FlyerTalk tag worked! I am never getting on a plane without it again!

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Good for you! I like my FT tags as well! :)

-Mark

To be honest...I use them for sh*ts and giggles. I haven't noticed that they are given any "priority" status on US. I have noticed that I routinely check baggage with a FT tag only to find it missing on the other side. They must be a hot commodity :)

Safe Travels,
Chris

This raises two questions: 1. What color are the US priority tags. (SkyTeam are yellow, the same as the FlyerTalk tags. It is possible that their handlers are supposed to give the yellow tags priority but generally don't notice them. The larger, brighter, FT tags stand out more.)

2. Does US have a policy of removing priority tags from other airlines?

I have a FlyerTalk label on my checked and carry-on baggage. I use them because they make my bags easier to spot and they identify me to other FTers. I've stuck a printed label with my name on over one of the "PRIORITY" declarations on the checked bag but it still seems to work its way to the front of the line.

Going in through LAX nearly three weeks back it was first off the belt (beating First and Business Class bags which had AA premium stickers). Same today at LHR. This happens too much to be a conincidence. Occasionally it gets lost among all the other bags and takes a while to appear among them but mostly it's in the first five off the belt.

The FT tags must be cool because the ramp rats at ORD never miss a chance to remove mine!

Can someone please point me to the link or tell me how to order the FT luggage tags ? :confused:

You can order FT luggage tags here.

http://www.flyertalk.com/storefr.shtml

Down below the T-shirts and coffee mugs.

Thanks Counsellor, wow that was quick !!! :D

Actually, Cholula beat me to it. His response (above mine) posted while mine was still trying to get through. Slow responses (for me at least) today.

Thanks Cholula, all ordered ^ . I ordered a few extra for the baggage handler "collectors" :)

I ordered four a few months ago and still have three left....although the one on my main suitcase is a little sad looking.
I'd still like to know where the thousands of tags, straps and various other parts of my suitcases have ended up over the years. My 2004 Platinum tags didn't even last for a month...:(.

I've only checked bags once in the past several years ($0 fare KEF) and my bags didn't come off in a hurry in either direction. Nor have I met anyone using the FT tags.

Guess I'm unluckly all around with them. ;)

Joh and I have met quite a few FT'ers purely via the bright Flouro yellow bag tags. These include cblaisd on a flight to SFO who was sitting behind us, NCRBill upstairs on a 747 flying to IAD in the exit row #15 opposite us. Another Flyertalker last year sitting next to us on a ferry to Vieques, Spanish Virgin Is from Puerto Rico, and even gottigotti in the railway station tunnel at Amsterdam! We even had a Flyertalker Seat1B driving us around Denali Park Alaska a month or so back on the Park Service buses for 10 hours, and the FT tag got us together. ^

Rudi, ozstamps and Hunki in the photo below schlepped these flouro tagged suitcases all over Wengen in the Swiss Alps in the driving snow this May. We hoped someone would notice the yellow Flyertalk tags festooned all over them and buy us a coffee. Only the mystery person taking the photo seems to have noticed us. ;)

http://punki.photosite.com/~photos/t...8607660000.jpg

Have also noticed a lot seen to get souvenired from airports by baggage handlers one imagines?