Not sure why you think that I was just trying to save myself time, that didn't enter into the situation at all. I certainly could have gone to the counter, although I wouldn't have had to because you can give them claim numbers at the podium when they tell you what line to go to (I have brought extra bags and done exactly that many times), but at that time I had no idea that the ME tags were no longer on my bag. I got to my connecting airport and my original flight had left and the airline counter re-booked me, I had no idea they would remove the ME tags, as they had no reason to, they just needed to replace their own tags. Once I saw that my bags were not in the room after many hours in the parks, I guessed that something happened when my connection was re-booked, called ME they took care of me with no complaints.