Do interline priority bags work?

[RealtimeY]

I will be travelling CX-xHKG-QF soon and am curious how priority bags get handled during a connection.

Assuming that interline priority baggage handling does work, what does the baggage handling system actually use to identify priority bags? Is it coded onto the barcode itself? I assume that at larger airports the baggage handlers don't go by the airline priority tag to determine which bags are priority.

 

[justinbrett]

I will be travelling CX-xHKG-QF soon and am curious how priority bags get handled during a connection.

Assuming that interline priority baggage handling does work, what does the baggage handling system actually use to identify priority bags? Is it coded onto the barcode itself? I assume that at larger airports the baggage handlers don't go by the airline priority tag to determine which bags are priority.

In my experience not so well.

I think basically your bag gets put in a container with other bags on the same routing (for example, if you are flying AA ORD-LAX, then QF LAX-SYD, your bags will go with all the other pax flying from ORD-SYD - and all of the ORD bags will be unloaded at the same time at SYD)

But otherwise the priority is on the barcode and printed on the tag in the case of QF. I think AA still put the bright orange oneworld priority tags on. QF at LAX told me these don't do anything.

 

[Himeno]

I've noticed that priority tags work well (most of the time) when the flight prior to collection is the same airline that tagged the bag (eg LAX-DFW-BOS all on AA). When another airline is involved, priority baggage handling is quite random. Some airlines handle other airlines tags well, others not so much. In other cases, when one airline handles the tags well at one port, that same airline will be poor at another port.

 

[Ade]

My experience is for some reason the business/first priority tags get ripped off when arriving at the destination. Case in point, my QF priority tags for SYD-BLR leg got ripped off when arriving on the belt at BLR ... so no, interline priority bags - don't work in my experience ... Not any more! And the ripped off priority tags - not the first time ... a regular occurrence, in my experience ..



They used to work fine when QF interline with CX (say, SYD-HKG-MAA & return), the priority tags worked fine, intact and bags were actually one among the first ones out on the belt.

 

[Quickstatus]

Assuming that interline priority baggage handling does work,

I've never seen it work. QF-AA, QF-MH, QF-BA,
I just assume it does not and just a gimmick.

 

[Ade]

QF-MH

This reminds me, never worked with MH as QF-WP … also never worked for 6E (Indigo), 9W (Jet Airways), UL (baggage tags always ripped when arriving at MAA from CMB) … imho, it’s just luck if it works …

 

[justinbrett]

I've never seen it work. QF-AA, QF-MH, QF-BA,
I just assume it does not and just a gimmick.

It's because airline A delivers bags to airline B who load them in the plane together. They don't get loaded on the plane in order of priority.

Might have better luck on 737s where the bags are loose, but on containerised aircraft, no hope.

 

[Ade]

It's because airline A delivers bags to airline B who load them in the plane together. They don't get loaded on the plane in order of priority.

Might have better luck on 737s where the bags are lose, but on containerised aircraft, no hope.

I also think there might be a knowledge gap between countries/airlines etc on how to handle priority bags ... say those working as baggage handlers in MAA might not know (or not shown/trained/educated) to identify a QF priority baggage tag or say tag from VA/SQ/UA/AA ... all they might have been told is, unload the bags into the trolly and load it on to the belt ... All baggage tags are in English, so that might is also be a limitation ...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sometimes airlines will retrieve a bag at the interline point and re tag it. CX F for example. But others do it too. Makes sure you have priority on their sector.

 

[Ade]

re tag it

happened last week with 6E, they re-tagged my bag with 6E labels, and 6E does not have any priority tags for status holders ... I also think it might be because the airline in question (6E) doesn't have a FF program, so they may not aware of how to handle status holder baggage ....

 

[Bjet]

Yeah my priority tag won't work for my Y tag - in both alliance airlines and interline. It is because they don't have tags for the disabled passengers.

 

[RooFlyer]

I think basically your bag gets put in a container with other bags on the same routing (for example, if you are flying AA ORD-LAX, then QF LAX-SYD, your bags will go with all the other pax flying from ORD-SYD - and all of the ORD bags will be unloaded at the same time at SYD)

Perhaps you might know about a situation I've wondered for a while. Do you think/know, generally, on a single sector, that bags that get checked in earlier will go into the container first/earlier, and therefore come out last/later?

 

[justinbrett]

Perhaps you might know about a situation I've wondered for a while. Do you think/know, generally, on a single sector, that bags that get checked in earlier will go into the container first/earlier, and therefore come out last/later?

I don't know for certain but I have always assumed that was the case. For a single sector though they have priority containers, so you might be first into the priority container, so last out, but will/should still be unloaded before the pleb bags.

Different for 737s obviously that don't use them.

 

[Quickstatus]

it’s just luck if it works …

They don't get loaded on the plane in order of priority.

all they might have been told is, unload the bags into the trolly and load it on to the belt

Too many reason why priority on interline is a gimmick. It's does not consistently work on even single sectors. Like Chinese whispers by the time it gets passed on to subsequent sectors might as well be random. The second law of thermodynamics applies here - entropy always increases

 

[SYD]

I refer to priority tags as “decoration”. It’s completely random if they work or not and who knows if those times your bag was first out, that was just the random luck of the draw…

Once flying SYD-AUH-CDG in J, my bag was literally the last out onto the carousel… It may well have been FILO. The limo driver insisted on collecting me 4 hrs prior (so they can collect the arriving PAX) but I’m only 20 mins from the airport.

 

[Franky]

I refer to priority tags as “decoration”. It’s completely random if they work or not and who knows if those times your bag was first out, that was just the random luck of the draw…

Once flying SYD-AUH-CDG in J, my bag was literally the last out onto the carousel… It may well have been FILO. The limo driver insisted on collecting me 4 hrs prior (so they can collect the arriving PAX) but I’m only 20 mins from the airport.

Pre CV19, we were returning from Taiwan, and had bought a framed print that had been professionally wrapped and boxed, so when we checked in, I went to the the oversize gate to checkin. Not only did I avoid the queue with the rest of the pax there, when our stuff rolled off in Perth, both our bags and the oversized item were first off.

 

[Batterytraveller]

If the second airline is JAL, it works, every port, every time. (Datapoints are AY to JAL, QF to JAL, AF to JAL), obviously jal only works as well. If you take too much time at Tokyo immigration then the priority bags will be taken off the belt and lined up in order of status.

 

[SYD]

Interesting data point. Just flew CX J CGK-HGK-LHR and as QF WP/OWE had “First” tags on our luggage. Landed on time straight through immigration (e-Gates) and our bags must have been first off as I realised as we approached the belt that they had just gone by us at the start of a cluster of bags. Grab and go - less than 30 mins from gate to exiting to trains!

I just wished they worked like that all the time.

 

[RealtimeY]

I will be travelling CX-xHKG-QF

Answering my own question, on separate PNRs TPE-HKG-SYD, Cathay was happy to through check me and my priority bags indeed appeared amongst the QF J bags in SYD.

 

[Himeno]

My flights on Fri/Sat had QF J tags.

When I got to baggage claim in NRT, CX had already pulled the bag off. It was also still tagged to HND. I had expected CX to tag in HKG with the reroute.