This a copy of an e-mail I sent to Ted, a low-fare (?) airline operated by United Airlines.
Dear Ted,
There’s just something about your baggage weight limit that isn’t making sense. I recently flew your airline from Las Vegas through Washington, D.C., and onto Charleston, S.C. When I checked in at Las Vegas, I checked two bags in under my name and none under my husband, so we were well within our baggage limits. When we approached the ticket counter to get our bags tagged, we were told one of them was too heavy at 55 pounds.
“Could you take some things out?” the employee asked. I was wondering where I would put 5 pounds worth of my clothing and personal items. Was I supposed to leave them in Las Vegas? I was told there was a $25 charge for bags exceeding the 50-pound weight limit.
Again, the employee asked if we could take something out of our bag. Again, I wondered where I would put those items. The airport was a such a crowded mess, I never could have gone to a store to purchase another bag without completely missing my flight. So we paid the $25.
Here’s where I’m confused. I can understand your need for a weight limit. I can understand your need to limit the number of bags people can check to 2 per person. But I’m confused by some of your logic: basically, you would have preferred for me to have checked another bag (under my husband’s name) that weighed 50 pounds rather than have one of my two bags exceed the weight limit by 5 pounds? So you want another bag to transport, lift, move around and potentially lose? You want another bag weighing 50 pounds? That’s better than an extra 5 pounds? I understand rules are rules but logic should come into play here somewhere.