Priority handling - NOT

Slow baggage, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

It seems whenever I am traveling to Dulles (Washington Dulles - IAD) and I get an upgrade ahead of time - it means that my bags will be handled extra slowly.

(the orange 'Priority' tag on the bag is supposed to mean that the bag is one of the first ones off the plane and delivered to baggage claim).

Our plane landed at 4:05pm ET, and we were at the gate by 4:15pm. The gate was on the 'Z' concourse - right up against the main terminal so we didn't have to take a shuttle bus from the gate to the terminal. But the first bags didn't start showing up until 4:40pm and our last bag (pictured) didn't show up until 5pm (and we were the next to last passengers to get their bags).

I had the same thing happen to me 5 years ago - when I was flying back to Dulles from a business trip to India. I flew back on Christmas Eve and got upgraded to First Class for the flight from Frankfurt and so my bag was Priority tagged. And it was one the last ones off the plane (so I was slow getting through Customs).

I am beginning to think that ground crew at Dulles must just work differently or really don't care about those tags - and it is there just to make me the customer feel like I am getting something special.