A recent flight had me scratching my head in wonderment. To check my bag, they charged me an extra twenty-five dollars($25).  The weight of my bag exceeded fifty (50) pounds, so I would be charged an extra twenty-five dollars ($25) for each leg of the trip.  I was offered the opportunity to remove the extra ten (10) pounds of weight from my bag and store it in my carry-on bag or purse.

Isn’t this extra weight still on the plane?

To avoid this extra charge of checking a bag, more people opt to use only a carry-on bag, a very large personal bag and large purse. All are acceptable and without extra fees. However, all must be stowed in the overhead compartments or under the seat in front of you.

Herein lies the new problem.

When the overhead compartments are crammed full and closed, extra carry-on pieces must be taken to the front of the plane to be tagged and stored below.  There is no extra charge for these “no-more-room” pieces of luggage.  Isn’t this weight still onboard?  How fair is it to the people who checked in their standard size bags and paid the twenty-five dollar fee?

There’s always a way to beat the system for awhile.  I feel certain the airlines will realize this soon and fix the problem by charging a fee for all carry-on luggage.

The way to avoid this problem is to wear all the clothes you planned to pack.  No bags to store onboard or be charged fees.  Voila!

Now for the seat inequities.

Each passenger pays for a seat on the plane.  Many receive only a partial seat to sit in and that’s not even comfortable.  Let me explain. If you’ve been unlucky enough to sit next to an overweight person on a flight, you’ll realize quickly that they enjoy a large portion of the seat you purchased.  If we both paid for one seat, why are they allowed half of mine?  Without a doubt, most of the multi-seat users will hurry to lift the seat arm dividing the spaces so they can literally settle and spread out over the larger area they need.

On a recent flight, I was occupying an aisle seat.  The gentleman in the center seat next to me was much too large to sit comfortably in the small space allotted.  He was so large that his arms spread out from his sides at a thirty degree angle from his body.  This position kept his left arm and elbow firming planted between my cleavage the entire flight, effectively trapping me in the seat more efficiently than the seatbelt crossing my lap. Did I also mention a part of his body sat on my hip and thigh the entire trip?

Do you see a problem here?

Why must I pay twenty-five dollars ($25) for the "more than" fifty (50) pound bag I checked and these larger-than-life passengers pay the same rate for their seat as I do? And then they use part of my seat, too.  They’re getting all that extra weight loaded on board for free and I’m being punished. The airlines must run their organizations like our justice system, but that’s a different story for another time.

How about setting a maximum weight for each passenger? Everyone weighs in with their luggage and all carry-on bags and purses. The skinny people can haul along most of their closet’s contents and the chunks are pretty much stuck with a change of underwear and a toothbrush.

For the airlines to receive the same money they obviously want for the number of seats, I have a solution.  In a three-seat-across configuration on a plane, have only two wider seats.  Make the fatties sit there and pay for one and a half seat fares.  Those two seats would garner the same monies as three of the smaller, regular-size seats.

How should the airlines determine who has to purchase these extra-wide seats? Of course, you've seen those contraptions at the gates to check if your carry-on will fit in the overhead compartment? Well, why don't we place a test seat at the gate with full partitions, instead of arms between the seats.  If the big boys and big girls can’t fit all their cheeks between the partitions, they'll be required to purchase the oversize seat. It’s time they were made to sacrifice a little.

I’m really very tired of arriving at my destination with a bruised, painful, and numb hip and thigh that bore a great deal of someone’s heavy fat resting on it for hours.

I won’t even go into the unpleasantness of their derrieres brushing against my face when they get up to go to the bathroom.

Maybe they should be required to fly only on Jumbo Jets.