Priority Baggage

[samas]

Dear VFF,

In the early days of priority baggage in late 2011 it worked really well for me. Being that I had instances where my bag (and the other priorities) where already on the carousel upon walking there, with no ordinary baggage in sight. Or times where the was only a short wait before the priority baggage distinctly came out first with a gap before normal baggage. This was fantastic and allowed you to beat the crowd to the taxi rank.

Searching this forum I also read other very positive comments in the earlier days: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tralia-velocity/priority-baggage-33032-4.html

Unfortunately the above rarely happens anymore. From my experience lately my bag seems to come out in the clutter of non-priority bags usually after a dozen or so ordinary ones, or randomly in the bulk of the regular baggage.

In the past week my partner flew PER-MEL-PER, on the way there the check-in agent failed to put the priority tag on, yet his bag was coincidently third out in MEL. On the return at PER yesterday an ADL flight landed just before the MEL one. Baggage was a bit slow to come out and the entire ADL flight and half the MEL pax were crowded around the one carousel operating whilst the ADL baggage was coming out. So people with bags trying to squeeze back through the crowds to get out.

A professional sports team was also on that MEL-PER flight who were all entitled to priority baggage. When the baggage first started coming out (with now all the A330 pax crowded around) the priority bags did indeed come first. All the priority baggage pax again had to contend with the crowds moving away from the carousel. My partners bag was in with the priority baggage this time (and tagged accordingly).

As I was observing back from the crowd it got me thinking of ways it could be improved. In all the flights I have landed to in PER I only ever once have seen both carousels operating. Why not have a dedicated priority baggage carousel? Obviously there are still operational issues to work through regarding the improvement of how baggage is handled, but dedicating the best positioned carousel for priority pax would be a huge step in restoring more successful priority baggage and an overall more pleasant travel experience.

 

[Jurahn]

Great post Samas. We also find Perth a PITA when it comes to collecting bags. I don't think I've ever seen both carousels in action at the one time! I recently collected hubby from Perth domestic after his return from a trip to the States. The desk in Sydney didn't tag his bags as Priority (he's VA Gold), and after the same experience as you (two flights arriving one after the other) and a seemingly interminable wait packed in amongst two full planeloads of passengers crowded around one carousel, his bags came out almost dead last. Not really what he needed coming off the back of a long-haul flight from LAX and then the final 5 hours from Sydney.

It would be great to have one carousel dedicated to Priority bags, but I'd say we'd probably see pigs flying before Perth airport would come to the party on that one! They're not exactly known for putting passengers' needs first.

We've actually found Priority Baggage to be a bit of a coughshoot since hitting Gold. Sometimes the bags have been tagged, sometimes they haven't, so you never know whether they're going to come out first at the other end or not! Maybe this is something that needs to be followed up by management with check-in staff to ensure correct tagging of bags for those entitled to Priority Baggage.

 

[samas]

It would be great to have one carousel dedicated to Priority bags, but I'd say we'd probably see pigs flying before Perth airport would come to the party on that one! They're not exactly known for putting passengers' needs first.

As VA will be moving over to the new consolidated terminal in 2014 I was hoping to get in in time to provide suggestions for how they set it up

After VA switched to the elastic priority tags I collected them after each flight and put them in my front bag pocket, so I have a stash of priority tags so I actually make sure whatever bag I will be checking in on a particular trip is already priority tagged before I get to the airport, so as a result I haven't had an issue with my bag not being tagged

Unfortunately it is rare I can manage carry-on only so priority baggage is the number one issue for me.

 

[Jurahn]

As VA will be moving over to the new consolidated terminal in 2014 I was hoping to get in in time to provide suggestions for how they set it up

After VA switched to the elastic priority tags I collected them after each flight and put them in my front bag pocket, so I have a stash of priority tags so I actually make sure whatever bag I will be checking in on a particular trip is already priority tagged before I get to the airport, so as a result I haven't had an issue with my bag not being tagged

Unfortunately it is rare I can manage carry-on only so priority baggage is the number one issue for me.

Ah yes, I forgot Virgin will be "on the move" sometime next year, so good idea to get that suggestion in - we can only hope that, by moving to a new purpose-built terminal, they'll make sure the set-up is right from the get-go rather than the usual Western Australian motto if "well, we'll do it like this at the moment 'cos it's cheaper than doing it all at once, and then of course there'll be problems with it, but then in a few years we'll do something else to "fix" it but it will cost 5 times as much by then" - ala widening the Mitchell Freeway to 3 lanes one tiny stretch at a time. But I digress .... LOL

And what a GREAT idea with the priority bag tags - I'll make sure I start collecting them from the next trip so I have a stash on hand as well! Most of our travel tends to be for extended periods so we never have just carry-on bags either, therefore priority baggage is an important issue for us as well.

 

[pwae]

Unfortunately my last Sydney to Perth flight in J class had missing priority tags when it came out at Perth. And it was dead last off (most likely because of my early check in) and soaked thanks to Perth's lovely weather.

I had actually been meaning to raise this since coming back, but forgot.
I even took a picture..

The return flight to Sydney, it had my priority tag on, which was perfect after an overnight flight.

 

[chrisb]

So they can't get priority handling and tagging right, so the answer is a dedicated Priority Carousel? Great, now we won't even know if the bags are going to show up on the priority one or the regular one

Not using the same carousel for 2 flights would seem more logical. Most priority people will be near the front of the aircraft and hence at the carousel first.

 

[totd]

I don't think tagging is necessarily the problem. I had a flight SYD-ABX last week. It was on an AT7 at SYD gate 43, which meant I was able to watch the plane be loaded. I spotted my bags at the front of the cart (there were 2 carts with bags for my flight... Well, one and a bit) and initially they started loading other bags, deliberately avoiding mine. I assumed they were going to load mine last, so they would come off first. Yeah, right. About half way through loading, mine were grabbed and chucked in somewhere. Unsurprisingly for bags loaded in the middle, they came out towards the back... And there weren't a whole lot of priority tags on the other bags. (FWIW: there was only one other person that I saw use the priority lane... Which means, on an all economy flight, only one other status pax.)

 

[BAM1748]

Why would Virgin be any different in baggage delivery speed to any other airline I've been on. Often I'm grateful just to get it.

 

[Burrito]

I can not see that a carousel for priority & a carousel for all else would improve things. If anything it creates potential for more complication/error.

 

[totd]

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/luggage-solutions/luggage-tracking/lugloc-luggage-locator

Always have one in my bag. Never had to call the contact centre, touch wood. I am always grateful when my luggage does eventually appear and in one piece...

My beef with priority baggage is that Virgin are claiming they deliver baggage to the carousel "with priority", when the reality is quite different.

 

[Burrito]

How many staff members handle a bag from checkin counter at departure point to carousel at destination?

 

[jmphoto]

Hate to be a stick in the mud, but I still find VA's Priority Baggage to be incredibly efficient compared to other carriers. Normally SYD-ADL-SYD and almost never have to wait more than a few bags.

I'm sure that BA baggage handlers used to see tags, laugh, and leave them in the rain for 30 minutes before putting them on the belt.

 

[Plutonus]

I've mainly had good experiences with priority baggage. Only time it hasn't worked is when check-in staff forget to use the tag. Especially frustrating as it always happens to me when I have two bags, and one of them gets tagged but the other doesn't.

 

[777]

I'm another one who usually finds in pretty good. I try and fly HLO but on the occasions i have had to use it it's always pretty much worked for me. I suspect it's better at some airports than others though.

Not a fan of a separate carousel though -- inevitably means that on those occasions when it *doesn't* work you're totally screwed as you're in the wrong place.

This is not a (particularly) serious suggestion but if you wanted to improve access at the carousel you could have a zone protected by a small screen or gentle partition where the bags actually came out marked for priority and/or disabled passengers. Would be nightmare to enforce though.

 

[totd]

To be fair, I've generally found SYD pretty good. It's almost certainly down to individual airports. ABX is a regional air port and I doubt SkyWest/Virgin have their own dedicated baggage handling team... (Rush hour at ABX is a EAQ Dash-8 and an XR ATR-72. That's it). And while its not like there is a huge amount of luggage on an AT7, it's just a little annoying seeing all the non-status pax leave while your luggage still hasn't appeared.

 

[mannej]

To be fair the OP did mention PER as the problem airport

 

[medhead]

So they can't get priority handling and tagging right, so the answer is a dedicated Priority Carousel? Great, now we won't even know if the bags are going to show up on the priority one or the regular one

Not using the same carousel for 2 flights would seem more logical. Most priority people will be near the front of the aircraft and hence at the carousel first.

Exactly. Imagine the complaints from people waiting at the priority carousel, while their luggage is enjoying the ride on the other carousel. Or even multiple bags coming out on different carousels.

 

[oz_mark]

As I was observing back from the crowd it got me thinking of ways it could be improved. In all the flights I have landed to in PER I only ever once have seen both carousels operating. Why not have a dedicated priority baggage carousel? Obviously there are still operational issues to work through regarding the improvement of how baggage is handled, but dedicating the best positioned carousel for priority pax would be a huge step in restoring more successful priority baggage and an overall more pleasant travel experience.

An interesting idea, but I suspect that there would be a number of procedural issues with how it would work. In terms of the new Perth terminal, the current design only has two baggage carousels.

 

[Sprucegoose]

To be fair the OP did mention PER as the problem airport

bu that is just as much a management problem as is design...

 

[medipri]

My experience at all the ports I've been at is good (predominantly PER and ADL but also MEL, SYD, DRW). Then again, my classification of "good" is as long as the bag comes in the first 30secs/first 10-ish bags. Some of the check-in staff do forget to tag your bag as priority, especially if you don't check in at the Priority Counter. I'll usually linger and wait until I see the bags tagged before I walk off.