Couldn't agree more. It really does depend, and you can be lucky, but I wouldn't count on it. It might all hinge on your circumstances, if you strike a personable staffer.

Husband and I have no elite status with CX as we bank most of our miles into QF program, but are OW Emerald and Sapphire. We recently had 7 checked pieces + a checked pram when travelling J with our baby BNE-HKG - very accomodating CX staffers let that through on a pretty empty flight. We were ready to pay excess, but they sympathised with our situation of moving country (again!) with our new babe, so let it go.

That's the kind of individual latitude we love with CX, and why we now regularly choose them ahead of other airlines.