Going back in time a few years ago down at Gatwick, when we charged excess baggage by the kilogramme and students returning in the summer could be stung for £600 or more, we had a lovely student going home to Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo (BA2247) one evening with 18kgs of excess baggage. (At £28 per kg, the excess charge ticket was for £504!)

Also, in the dim and distant past, we had a wee bit of latitude to negotiate the charges and the Duty Officer of the Day had agreed to let her off £54 and settle for £450.

The poor girl sat on a bench and began to cry - then she had a brainwave. She opened one of her bags and began to pile on her clothes. Jumper went on top of jumper, then an anorak, then an overcoat, then leggings on top of trousers until she looked like Bibendum (Registered Trade Mark of Michelin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibendum ).

She then waddled over to the desk and placed her bags on the scales. When we saw that she was only 2 or 3 kg overweight, the kind-hearted Duty Officer let her off seeing as she had tried so hard! Bless her, she looked so comical as she stiffly entered the security point to go to the gate, but she was £450 better off!