Since I started getting Priority Tags last June, my bags have been one of the first if not the first every time (mostly BOS, LAX, SFO)

I've had mixed results. I made 1P on may way to ICN, and from ICN-PEK (via NRT) my bag came out early. Intra-China on *A the bags were both early and late. On my way home PEK-NRT-ORD-RDU my bag didn't make the 3 hour connection in NRT (???) and it didn't make it to the US until 2 days later.

At LGA on Thanksgiving day my bags were first off on the carousel even after the original flight from IAD was cancelled and was rebooked.

It's a crapshoot, and I don't expect it to come out first, I just aim to be pleasantly surprised.

I fly to so many different stations that it's hard for me to know if there are any particular patterns. I know that my last few flights (where I checked bags) included stops at SFO, MCO, IAD, ORD and PDX, and I think my bags came off early only once or twice at most. On my last trip to DCA, I flew with 8 colleagues, and only two of us had priority luggage tags (and I was the only 1K in the group). Everyone got their bags except me! Apparently, my priority tagged suitcase missed the connection in ORD (the same connection that everyone else made). I ended up waiting at the airport for the next flight to arrive. It was that experience that made me search for this thread... I always suspected the priority tags were pure placebo! Guess it just depends where you fly.

Works good going to NRT.

Just an fyi that 1Ks have a special lost baggage line you can access via the 1K line. Those guys, IME, have been great calling the airport or the luggage transfer folks who bring the bags to you and actually call back with accurate information. No need to wait around the airport.

As I've posted in this thread and many others, I have been explicitly told by UA employees that the priority tag is irrelevant on domestic trips. The first time I was told this was offhand at the int'l->domestic baggage check at SFO, and I asked once at LAS and was told the same thing. More recently, I had one UA employee at ORD tell me that handlers will try to get priority-tagged bags out first on domestic flights, but it's not part of the domestic policy.

I usually don't check a bag, but my last three trips I did (AUS, IST, IAD), my bags were one of the first off.

Last night at SFO, UA 595 from DEN arrived completely full in both cabins. 100% of the first 100 bags off had priority tags -- not a single untagged bag in the first batch. (My bags were 3rd and 4th, but I had to wait for Starwoman so I was curious to see the pattern). Of course, this is the best case, as 777 bags are containerized, so the opportnity to segregate them is there. But it's clear that somebody cared -- at DEN to segregate them into one container, and at SFO to find that container and deliver it to the belt first. At least occasionally, the priority tags do seem to mean something, even domestically.

On a recent RNO-KOA adventure, the Priority tags got our bags off pretty quick in both locations. Probably in the first 20 in KOA and in the first 10 in RNO.

Seemed to work in two locations that weren't hubs.

I really think that this is one UA problem that we can mark "solved."

It used to be so horrid that the answer to the question is the thread title was "it ensures that the bags will be the last off the plane." Like others who have posted I've had nothing but great success on recent trips. My bag has always been among the first few on the belt. I've had similar experiences with other *alliance carriers including BD and SQ among others.

Of course, I'm not counting the *many* times LH has lost my bags, (including 4 times in a single trip, batting zero for four) grrrr.

I figured the sole purpose of those orange tags was to make it easier to see the bag in the dark.

You have been lucky. On my last two trips, my bag was one of the last and one of the first out.

I'm new enough to the FF world (First 1K Qualification 2 weeks ago) that I didn't now this was a problem. I regularly have bags to check - demo gear particularly - and when I realized I could start getting the 'priority' tag on my bags I loved it. My bags were first off the plane in EVERY flight this year where I checked them with the tag.

There was only one time when I didn't - I was checking in in SYR and there was one lonely ticket agent working and she was dealing with a family that included grandparents and kids (kids on planes - I have a manifesto on that just waiting to be written) and I really didn't want to but in and say 'you forgot my little orange tag.' I know I could have played the 1K/DYKWIA card but chose to add distance between me and the kids for a while since I knew they'd be on the same flight as me anyway.

But I digress. I love the priority tag - works for me every time.

Priority tags worked for me both times I checked bags from SFO to BOS. I've had Delta priority tags a few times at BOS luggage claim and they were consistently the last bags to come up.

worked MCO-IAD 12/20
 

We checked three bags flying MCO-IAD on 12/20, and they were the 1st, 2nd, and 4th bags off the belt.

I'd say that my bags are among the first to come off about 80% of the time flying domestic. The tags don't do squat for me in FRU or ALA! ;)