You can think what you like! As far as I am concerned, as a British Airways Ground Staff member, I will ensure heavy cabin baggage (over 9kg) is checked in. I am only interested in the safety aspects and seldom charge excess on a heavy cabin bag (unless the additional hold baggage is severely overweight).

The 9kg upper limit imposed by the CAA for a single cabin bag (the 18kg allowance in First is supposed to be split between two bags) is there for a reason, Ladies and Gentlemen, and if you had met the inbound BA6965 Alicante-LGW service a couple of years ago, you would think exactly the same way!!! (Indeed, these discussions have been done to death both here and on pprune and I think we have all agreed that the FAA is not really that caring about passenger safety and US airlines are best avoided! Indeed, after the decapitations in the British Midland Kegworth crash, it was recommended that 5kg should be the absolute upper limit in the cabin!)

I agree, however, that our Lo-Costs will milk money out of baggage charges - but then, realistically, if you are going to sell seats at a fiver, you've got to make up the shortfall somewhere! Who was it who said "There's no such thing as a free lunch?!?"