I thought I’d share this in case it might help anyone.
My DW and I ended up needing to check one extra bag for our trip, so I called DME and asked if we could get another luggage tag. They said of course and that if any extras are ordered they always go ahead and send them per guest, so we received two extra tags.
I placed a yellow tag on each of our the three bags and checked them with JetBlue before going through security. For some reason, I decided to bring the fourth tag with me just in case. I am glad I did. The flight was full, so they made it mandatory for some of us to check our carry-ons at the gate. I had the fourth yellow tag with me, so I placed it on my carry-on bag before handing it over.
Of course, the worrier in me wondered if the bag would actually make it to our hotel room. So after boarding the plane I posed the question on the Lines app, and I received a couple of responses before the plane took off assuring me that everything would be fine and that I shouldn’t need to go to the carousel to get my bag. (Liners are so awesome! It was after 11:30 pm MDT, and some were still online and willing to help.)
When we got to POR, our room wasn’t ready, so we decided to leave our other carry-ons with bell services. I overheard the guest in front of me telling bell services that the carry-on that she checked at the gate the day before still hadn’t shown up. After she was done, I asked her about what was going on, and she basically had done the same thing that I had. She even had flown with the same airline. So I began worrying again.
However, everything turned out fine. The bag I checked was delivered to our room along with the other three. (I hope the other guest was able to get hers too.)
So I have now learned that, as long as the bag has the yellow tag – even if it is checked at the gate – it will be collected with all the others. The moral of this story is always to bring any extra yellow tags if you have a carry-on. It could save you some time at MCO.