Southwest participating in DME soon.....

[Aquagirl]

Both sets of tags came in the same envelope. One set has our arrival date and one set has our departure date.

I used ME several times and have never received luggage tages for our departure. Maybe they are trying something new.

 

[CleveRocks]

Maybe they are trying something new.

No. Not possible.

You need to understand how the system works.

When flights arrive at MCO, a combination of Disney CMs and airline employees visually scan all of the incoming luggage, and the bags with the bright yellow DME tags get pulled out of the luggage stream and get sent to a sorting facility before being loaded on trucks for delivery to the resorts. The DME tags are necessary, at first just for visual identification that they need to be pulled before they make it out to the baggage claim carousels, and later for the barcodes, so that they can be accurately routed and linked with a specific guest.

Now, on the way home from WDW, Disney isn't exactly directly involved. Luggage handling on the way home is part of Resort Airline Check-in, which technically is NOT part of DME. Resort Airline Check-in is run by a Transportation Security Administration-approved private contractor. It is run EXACTLY like luggage check-in is run at curbside check-in at airports. IDs are checked, reservations are checked, boarding passes are given, and the actual airline luggage tags are put on the bags (you know, the long white stickers that have the 3-letter airline code on them). REPEAT: The luggage is tagged at that time. THERE IS NO REASON FOR A DME TAG AT THAT POINT, AS IT DOESN'T GET OR NEED ANY SPECIAL DME HANDLING. IT'S GOING TO THE AIRPORT, TO THE PROPER AIRLINE, AND IS ALREADY TAGGED AND IDENTIFIED.

 

[Lewisc]

My guess is whatever vendor Disney is using for the DME tags is making a mistake. Maybe Disney changed vendors.

The number of guests using RAC will increase dramatically when/if SW comes on board. Although it's possible RAC might wind up giving the guests some kind of bar code tag to assist them in handling outgoing luggage there isn't any chance they'd use the same yellow colored tags.

 

[Aquagirl]

No. Not possible.

You need to understand how the system works.

I know how the system works, I have used it several times! My husband is a cast member and we have to travel there several times a year. Does Disney inform you before they change anything?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Does Disney inform you before they change anything?

They may not inform CleveRocks, but it's neccessary for them to inform me as part of my job.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I know how the system works, I have used it several times! My husband is a cast member and we have to travel there several times a year.

Aquagirl,

If you "know how the system works" with the second set of tags, please explain what that purpose of those tags is.

The remote skycaps at the Resort Airline Check-in (RAC) counter apply standard, white airline luggage tags to checked luggage destined for RAC-participating airlines -- with standard codes, such as ORD for Chicago-O'Hare and DEN for Denver.

Please explain what the value of yellow DME luggage tags would be on a Disney resort guest's check-out day.

 

[Aquagirl]

They may not inform CleveRocks, but it's neccessary for them to inform me as part of my job.

I understand that you have work for Disney transportation and that you know how the system works. I replied that we also received return tags. I found it interesting that some people using ME and traveling on SW in the next couple of months received arrival and return tags. I originally thought that it was a mistake because we have never received departure tags before. When I heard that others received them I thought that maybe they were trying an internal luggage handeling system similar to DCL. All I said was that, "maybe they were trying something new." My last comment was in reply to CleveRocks comment because I thought that it was rude. It is not necesarry to speak to us like we are 4 years old!

 

[CleveRocks]

They may not inform CleveRocks, but it's neccessary for them to inform me as part of my job.

... and I tend to pay close attention to what Tyler posts, as well as other involved CMs who've posted in the past. With all of that information, I'm able to understand the system and use common logic from that point.

 

[CleveRocks]

My last comment was in reply to CleveRocks comment because I thought that it was rude. It is not necesarry to speak to us like we are 4 years old!

If my language was rude it was purely unintentional, and I apologize if it reads that way. It was not at all intentional. But I didn;t think that explaining how a system works is treating anyone like a 4-year old. I have a 4-year-old. She's a bright 4-year-old, but I don't give her intellect the respect I gave yours by explaining systems and expecting that such explanations will help foster a deeper understanding.

Again, if I used language stupidly, that's on me, and I apologize, but I stand by my explanations and reasoning,

 

[goofy4tink]

THere is no way that they would use yellow tags even if they were going to try something new. THere would just be too much confusion at the airport. And heaven knows, they don't need anything else to confuse them over there. So, we are just going to have to assume that the vendor made a mistake. I got duplicate tags a year ago...the correct ones had my right resort/flight times. The incorrect ones had the resort I was moving to, with my flight departure time on them. Go figure...they simply made a mistake.

If, sometime down the road, they do add SW, it will involve adding more people to the desks. But, it won't involve more luggage tags. The RAC desk uses regular airline type bag tags since they are acting as an airline agent, just off-site..hence the name RAC...remote airline checkin (or close to that).

Adding SW will have it's own set of issues...what happens to seats? If we get to check in up to 24 hrs ahead, will RAC then just take our luggage, tag it and send it on to the airport and we use the boarding passes we got the day before? Who knows. But, it will be interesting to watch it play out.

 

[bicker]

That's what I was wondering. Pax would still have to check-in at the gate to get boarding passes, because Southwest has no way to record which letter pass each pax is provided, so they have no way to account for the number of "A's", "B's" and "C's" issued at the resort.

 

[Chuck-PA]

We are traveling Southwest at the end of the February, I just pulled my Magical Express packet out.

My vouchers are for arrival and departure dates but my yellow tags are only for my arrival date.

So I would say Southwest is not the reason you may have gotten yellow tags with both dates on them.

 

[Lewisc]

That's what I was wondering. Pax would still have to check-in at the gate to get boarding passes, because Southwest has no way to record which letter pass each pax is provided, so they have no way to account for the number of "A's", "B's" and "C's" issued at the resort.

SW passenger can get BP 24 hours before their flight on the internet. CMs at the desk will generally obtain those for guests. There isn't any question passengers will be able to get BP at the resort. The question is if SW passengers will be allowed to get their BP at the 24 mark and then check in at the RAC 3-12 hours before their flight. Most of us assumed the RAC desk would be able to simply reprint or use the BP we previously obtained. There is a rumor that a guest that already obtained their BP would be unable to use the RAC to check their luggage. SW passengers would have to decide which is more important, an "A" BP or the ability to use the RAC desk to check their luggage.

The RAC desk uses the same software that skycaps use in the airport. It can issue BPs and print luggage tags.

 

[Edd]

I just talked with an airport official, in charge of ground planning, and he said the SW baggage problem would be in place sometime in February. It is a matter of intergrating SW software and the baggage people software and they have had some problems getting it done. The original plans were for initiation in January, but it was moved to February about 2 weeks ago.

 

[rantnnravin]

Most of us assumed the RAC desk would be able to simply reprint or use the BP we previously obtained. There is a rumor that a guest that already obtained their BP would be unable to use the RAC to check their luggage. SW passengers would have to decide which is more important, an "A" BP or the ability to use the RAC desk to check their luggage.

The RAC desk uses the same software that skycaps use in the airport. It can issue BPs and print luggage tags.

If it's the same software... i'm thinking, "i can check my luggage in curbside at my home airport with my 24-hr pre-printed BP in-hand, why would this be any different?"

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

If it's the same software... i'm thinking, "i can check my luggage in curbside at my home airport with my 24-hr pre-printed BP in-hand, why would this be any different?"

Because it's at the airport directly.

The RAC works a bit differently, being that it's offsite, and not airline employees. They have less abilities than what can be done at the airport directly.