Airline luggage with built-in scales...

[cj7hawk]

How about a set of scales built right into airline luggage, perhaps in the base or even the handle? So you can always fill your luggage to the maximum "free" capacity...

I'd like that...

David.

[aburt]

I use a cheapy hand-held baggage scale, has a hook on the bottom to grab the handle.

And I REALLY hate that I have to use it at all. Bring back the 70lb limit. I never filled a bag near that full, but the 50lb limit seems chosen deliberately to trip people up to make a buck.

True story: We were flying to London on British Air a few years ago. At the ticket counter the agent looked at our fairly reasonable looking small backpack -- about half the size of your ordinary looking carryon wheely bag -- and said, "I bet that weighs too much." It had assorted electronics that we didn't want banged around (or stolen) so we weren't going to check any of it. He weighed it. "The limit is 6 kilos for your carry on, and this weighs 8." I noticed they were hassling quite a few other people in line too. I said I'd never heard of this limit before. He said it's to protect the other passengers in case your bag falls out of the overhead bin. I pointed to another passenger with a huge backpack they let through. He said the limit was higher for business class passengers. (I think I said under my breath something about that being ridiculous, what, business class people's bags don't hurt as much?) Well, we weren't going to check the stuff, so we took out our rain jackets (in the carry on), put them on, and stuffed our pockets full of miscellany from the bag until he weighed it and approved. No rule said anything about what you wear on your person. He was fuming mad, but ultimately it was so incredibly silly. We've traveled many times overseas and never was our carryon questioned, even when we had an ordinary wheely one. It was a dumb move on their part, because I still avoid British Air as a choice when booking. Great way to create customer aversion.

Airlines seem generally very good at this.