ok, so the ga said it would make it, it did. Also, what carrier operates an 8am flight sea-yvr? I don't accept that everything posted from 1 side is speakers factual. The op questioned the agent's statement that the bag would make it (was correct) while he claims to be on a non-existent flight on any carrier that goes from sea-yvr at 8am.

Seems the agent whose credibility is in question was far more reliable in their statements than the op. Again, no need to make up bs stories about connections to Vladivostok or lie about having hazardous materials in your bag. I don't give the ga too much credit, they came thru, and delivered what was committed to, so I gave them the correct amount of credit. Those that bet incorrectly gave not enuf credit. Those that believed the op had an 8 am flight to yvr as he stated gave too much credit to him.

I believe it was you who insisted in previous threads that you'd never even tell people whether they'd have enough time to go to the bath room before departure, reasoning that you don't know how long they'll need and what they'll do once they are in there. Fine, I agree.

In this case, according to the OP the GA "insisted there was no way my bag would miss my connection". Would you agree with that kind of statement? I'd say there was a darn good chance (with a 20 min connection and two gates as far apart as possible at UA's SFO T3) that the bag would not make it. It seems clear the GA was promising/guaranteeing something that was completely out of their control. And the OP was lucky and fortunate that the bag made it. And hopefully the hard disk is still functional.

Regarding the 8am flight from SEA to YVR, this might simply be a misunderstanding. His original statement was "An plus I leave Seattle at 8 am heading to Vancouver, then onward to about 10 other cities over next few days" -- that doesn't necessarily mean a flight to YVR. Later the OP said he was going to be with family in Seattle til Saturday. Could be a road trip with family. If the OP is still following this thread, a clarification might help here.

I note the OP never posted the size of the bag in question.

The obnoxious anti-carry-on bag gate agents usually test everyone.

Since the OP was singled out, I suspect the bag was well oversized.

I don't think it was the Flight Attendant that singled him out and made him check his bag...

Yea, I would not be so foolish to guarantee such a thing, but allegedly this 1 did, and UA came thru. It's like calling your hit/home run in baseball...when you nail it, no can question you. When you fail, then you are the fool. In this example, the GA wasn't the fool. Dumb move, but it ended up being credible, and hindsight is the final judge, n'est pas?

the 8 am "flight" was a toyota camry i picked up from hertz to drive up :)

samsonite roller bag measuring 44 linear inches

Fair enough. I think you needed to pack a light carry on for your mr and a checked bag for the other stuff.

All of the wasted angst. Twenty minutes for the Ramp to manage transfer bags was plenty of time. I would be wiling to bet real money they had the OP's bag off the plane before the OP was off the plane.

Well, evidently an hour plus is not enough for the guys in ORD:
Was forced to gate check a bag last year in MCO because I was late boarding.
I jammed my necessary items into a small garbage bag provided by the GA and surrendered my bag in a hurry so as to not the delay the flight. My bag didn't arrive with me in SFO and, in fact, showed-up 3 days late. I found out that my bag got routed to PHL and was lost there for two days. But I got 15,000 miles and money to buy clothing for my trouble, and profuse apologies.

I was taught a valuable lesson from this experience and the embarrassment of having to delay a business meeting so that I could buy a new suit and necessities, etc.---NEVER EVER GATE CHECK!

Slam dunk!
I don't think that you will hear any more from him!

In this one particular instance...maybe that did happen. However I have had bags go missing with far more time between connections (as in hours) that were only a couple of gates apart. Based on UA's track record for many of us, the OP was well within his rights to be "angstified" (if you will) over the slim margin of time for his bag to transit between flights. I would say he got very lucky. The only thing that worked in his favor was that as a gate checked item it more than likely was one of the last things on/first things off.

That could make sense in most situations, however, This trip is the one where i get my first stage status as a 2p. So during the trip i would have had to pay the bag fees for each leg. And since i never went home between these trips, the checked bag would have been following me around to my tours of many airports, on only MRs i do pack much lighter.

After all was said and done, I am very thankful that my bag did make it, and heck im glad even I made the flight. I noticed later that united didnt even expect ME to make the flight, and had auto rebooked me the next morning. So the ground crew in SFO gets much props from me, they hauled ... and got my bag there.

And as for those that questioned the facts i gave.....why would i make stuff up, fudge details, then go post them on an internet message board? I dont get any benefeit besides knowledge for future trips to try and avoid similar situations.

Glad both you and your bags made it.

As for those who questioned your facts . . . It may not necessarily be the case here, but there are always those who will question the facts when the OP's "facts" place the airline in wrong.

True dat (glad it worked out too!) but there are those (myself) that question statements that are often not 100% true or misleading. In a post about flights, a mr, and a trip to yvr, most would use the context to assume we are still talking about flights. Thnx for clarifying op.