the primary job of the flight attendant at the aircraft door is to enforce the airline's rigid class system. As the passengers arrive, the flight attendant, like a smiling angel on the day of last judgement, divides them according to their intended destinations. A blue boarding pass envelope: to the heaven of first class. A brown one: to the purgatory of business. A red one: to the hell of eco (those colours date back to 1989!).

On many of the narrow-body planes, the torture of the condemned is increased by their being made to pass trough first class on their way to the dephts - one last vision of what could have been theirs had they been willing, while they were on earth, to give away all of their worldly goods in order to obtain the salvation of a first-class ticket.

If you are attempting to carry an additional bag onto the plane, don't worry about the flight attendant at the aircraft door stopping you. He or she will be to busiy making sure everyone knows their place (and will assume that any excess luggage problems have been taken care of at the gate). Just hold your boarding pass up and away from your bags as you did at the gate and do nothing to bring your baggage to his or her attention.

(from The Airline Passenger's Guerilla Handbook, ISBN 0-924022-04-3, 1989, sold out - no longer available)