I know I shouldn't wade into this, but here goes nonetheless ...

Until someone else commented on destination, I actually thought it was somewhere in Europe (not due to geographical ignorance, but simply because I skimmed over as I thought it would be irrelevant to the general complaint), so forget the so-called racist angle.

How someone gains their status is largely irrelevant to me, yes I am slightly envious of those who have large cheque books to cover it, but that is just envy - I have status, you have status, end of story.

The baggage issue has been covered, I too agree with most posters.

What I find fascinating is that you see it as poor customer service to simply tell someone 'no' and walk away when they are asking for something twice above and beyond the expected limit. If I ask for something I do not really (and should not really) expect and am told no, I do not feel that it is necessary to smooth over the situation with empty apologies and time wasted on both our sides - managers have more important things to do that placate people with ruffled feathers. It annoys me to no end that people are expected to apologize for policies that are in place (and all parties were aware of) before starting. Perhaps if the situation was unexpected "oh I have never travelled before, I didn't know I wasn't allowed 4 bags" the response of "I'm sorry, but no" might be warranted, but the idea of "I know I'm only allowed 3, but I brought 4, so can I have it free anyways" being responded to with a simple "no" seems utterly reasonable to me.

You wish us all to be more empathetic - what do you feel that means? Must one agree with your view point to be empathetic? If I put myself in those shoes, honestly I would have been annoyed at myself for not packing smarter and despite hoping for the possibility of a different outcome, never would have expected it and hence would not have gotten upset about it in the first place.

Could *you* try to be more empathetic and try to see it from the side of an employee who could quite possibly be fired if they did this sort of thing (and more, upgrades, etc - it's a slippery slope) for every single customer that requested it?

Just my 2 cents.