|
red priority tags (and blankets)
Well you learn something new every day. Those little red priority tags cost *A members $ 600,000. Pity that they still don't have any impact on baggage delivery, at least on most of my recent trips on BD, LH, LX, UA or US. Or maybe now that the tags are cheaper so is the baggage handling.;)
From ATW: Star: Alliance's growth, innovation continue to attract attention Monday June 1, 2009 Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht said he sees a "renewed and more aggressive" interest in the alliance from member airlines as well as from nonallied carriers owing to the recession and industry downturn. "We have seen a similar trend after 9/11. Our members are keener to find or participate in initiatives in the area of cost savings and synergies," he told ATWOnline last week at the Aegean Airlines joining event in Athens (ATWOnline, May 27). Recent projects include sourcing of the priority bag tag by Star for 14 members, reducing the collective bill from $600,000 per year to $90,000 with savings of up to 90% for some participating airlines. The alliance received a similar mandate from members to source onboard blankets, which now are bought from one Chinese manufacturer although airlines maintain their own specifications and designs. The network, revenue and cost savings benefits also are attracting more carriers to the world's largest alliance, Albrecht claimed, adding that "many candidates do contact us. Initially it was very difficult to recruit candidates." The fact that Star, oneworld and SkyTeam account for three-quarters of global traffic proves "that we were right, 12 years ago, to establish an alliance. Many were very critical of the idea and many have been equally critical of a lot of the initiatives we have taken, yet many have followed our example. Look at the recent decision of oneworld and SkyTeam, ten years later than we did, to have aircraft with their alliance livery" (ATW, February 2008). Albrecht said he sees a similar shift in mentality "from push to pull" at other stakeholders, like corporate account holders and airports. "Several years ago, airports were not interested in talking to us. Now, often they take the initiative to talk to us. Co-location was an annoyance, now they regard it as a more rational distribution of space." He dismissed criticism that Star, with 21 full members, three regional members and five confirmed future members, is becoming too large and unmanageable. "We started with five, grew to ten and today we have over 20 members. It's an evolution, and we had to rethink several times the way we do business and how to remain relevant. We are in the process of a new analysis of our corporate governance" that will be announced "soon" he said. Star, however, will not announce soon another future member, he added. He confirmed that the alliance has held talks with Air Malta, which some sources mention as a future associate, as well as other carriers, "but there are no new application talks going on right now." Aegean, Air India, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines and TAM all are set to come onboard. Once they complete their respective integration processes, which are in different stages, the Star network will encompass 26 carriers and three regional members (Adria Airways, Blue1 and Croatia Airlines) operating some 21,000 daily flights on a network spanning 1,010 destinations in 176 countries. Presently the network offers close to 17,000 daily flights to 916 destinations in 160 countries. by Cathy Buyck |
Thanks for posting. The bid about the blankets worries me a little bit.
|
Interesting post, thanks for the info. That must be a lot of priority tags (and have a similar experience where they are often treated as a distraction rather than an instruction to load/offload first :P
|
Yep, even at the reduced price the priority tags are a complete waste of $90k. The only place they ever work is Japan -- and there ALL the bags come out fast anyway.
UA's strategy with cost savings on blankets seems to be simply not to have any (or nearly enough). Laundered blankets are a severely endangered species. |
Originally Posted by flymetokix
(Post 11844926)
Yep, even at the reduced price the priority tags are a complete waste of $90k. The only place they ever work is Japan -- and there ALL the bags come out fast anyway.
UA's strategy with cost savings on blankets seems to be simply not to have any (or nearly enough). Laundered blankets are a severely endangered species. |
Priority handling of luggage is pretty well respected in BKK and CDG (at least at 2A). In YUL from int'l flights it generally works.
Transiting often in BKK, CDG or YUL, for me the tags are not wasted at all! |
Of the two airports I use most often, red priority tags always work at NRT and never at MAN.
|
Work often in LCY (then again almost all of the bags have red tags), Germany and Switzerland.
Don't really know about Japan as immigration takes sooo long.:( |
Priority tags mean nothing at US airports, especially Dulles and Chicago. My bags are typically in the last 25% of the total when flying into either of these major hubs from overseas on United flights. On Turkish Airlines however, they mean first out and on the belt.
|
LHR domestic - see if we can make them last off the belt
LHR international - mixed AMS - mixed - once saw them put on the luggage "train" tractor unit instead of with the rest, and sure enough, they popped off first. Other times not a successful At all the rest I was either too tired to care, or I didn't notice! |
Sometime last year, a UA check-in agent at SFO told me that they no longer used the priority tags - but were now printing 'PRIORITY' on the baggage tags itself. And with the reverse printed PRIORITY (White letters on black background), it did seem to work in most places.
Also, it seemed to me that the Red Tag works better in Asia, then other parts of the world. |
Originally Posted by multivisaman
(Post 11868436)
Priority tags mean nothing at US airports
|
I suspect the red tags only work for those in the premium classes - and *G in Y is treated as normal. The secret is in the barcode - not the tag.
As a *G, but Y class only traveller, I have never received my luggage as priority, even when the first bags off are priority. |
Originally Posted by o0herbie
(Post 11906744)
I suspect the red tags only work for those in the premium classes - and *G in Y is treated as normal. The secret is in the barcode - not the tag.
As a *G, but Y class only traveller, I have never received my luggage as priority, even when the first bags off are priority. |
Originally Posted by o0herbie
(Post 11906744)
I suspect the red tags only work for those in the premium classes - and *G in Y is treated as normal. The secret is in the barcode - not the tag.
As a *G, but Y class only traveller, I have never received my luggage as priority, even when the first bags off are priority. |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 7:44 am. |
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.