I think you are missing what the incentive of the $100 is - it is to encourage pasengers to use a different means of sending their freight. A means that the normal person would find a more convenient and most likely less expensive if they were following the rules.

In case you missed the above statements by the OP his intention was to screw the airline, its employees and I guess in the long run all the rest of us. You can hurrah him all you desire but your reason for doing so makes no sense to me.

To give an analogy our medical plan use to have no co-pay. The hospital insisted that there be a $35 co-pay to go to the emergency room unless one was admitted to the hospital and in that case the $35 was waived. The reason was to give an incentive to all those who wasted the resources of hospital by going to the emergency room for a hangnail or some other ridiculous reason.

So yes if you insist on going and getting the hangnail looked at its going to cost you $35 which is more than if you went to the pharmacy and got something over the counter. And yes if you insist on bring freight with you as luggage than you are going to pay more than to have it shipped unless you have a scam.YMMV

So why'd they switch from a 70lb limit to a 55(or 50) lb limit when they all fell on dire financial straights? To make money. Guess how some of that freight travels? On the same aircraft - less expensive? Hardly. No, I've never flown with a 90lb suitcase, 75lb once or twice from university, but the 55lb limit is scat. Another excuse to extract more money for reduced services.

This practice could be especially dangerous if, say, many people started doing it AND one of your flights is on, say, American Eagle or some other small aircraft. There's nothing like a stall right after takeoff to give you that sinking feeling. Or, if the extra (unknown to the pilot) weight changes the balance of the aircraft such that there is more weight in the rear than there should be, there is always the dreaded Unrecoverable Flat Spin. Taking off from a high-altitude airport and/or on a very hot day will make things even worse. Go read the NTSB crash database next time you decide to scam the $25 excess baggage charge.

I just got 200 pounds of luggage back from Thailand... Heavy stuff in my carryons. The rest in my checked luggage, but spread over 3 checked items. None overweight.

Don't give the guy such a hard time... just cuz you wouldn't do it. I give the guy/gal points for having the guts to post it....probly knowing he was going to get flamed.

just my opinion... (& I even reserve the right to change it ;))

First of all, any overweight baggage is properly tagged. Yes, the same people handle it but the overweight tags let the baggage handler know they're about to pick up a heavy bag.

Furthermore, the more weight the plane carries the more fuel it burns. More fuel means more cost for the airline. Airlines are right to charge people extra for bringing everything they own along with them.

No problem. I haven't had as much fun since I asked for Princess Di jokes after her car crash! Talk about getting flamed! You have to have a thick skin to post on any newsgroup because someone will always disagree with you.

So the FAA would adjust the averages they use for the pilots to calculate weight. Hopefully it wouldn't take a crash like it did last time.

but then if your too fat, you gotta buy an extra seat. so you gotta do a evaluation of what costs more. but you could just put yourself in a box and send it as freight, have the box weighed, then go to a corner and have a friend put you in it and tape it up, then put it through. would that work.

Why would you brag about your petty little scam? It's pathetic.

This sounds like a very serious potential flaw in the system. As others have noted, it would seem most likely to come into play with the regional jets.

Here's the nightmare scenario -- a youth sports team on a CRJ flight. Money is tight for the trip and the coach is faced with a large charge for the extra weight of the sports equipment in the kids' bags. He/she, with a similar moral philosophy as the original poster's, realizes the skates, fencing equipment, etc. could be added to the kids' bags after check-in, at no cost.

Now, we're not talking about one guy adding 40 lbs. We're talking about maybe 800 lbs. of unexpected weight on a small jet.

Edited to ask, are any pilots viewing this thread? Is this a potential problem?

So if the excuse is that they're trying to save the backs of the baggage handlers, whay are they willing to let their employees handle heavy bags anyway if the passenger pays more $$$?

If the bag is tagged as overweight the baggage handlers know to get help - as in two people rather than one.

It's curious that you consider this practice a "loophole." It appears to be intentional fraud with potential endangerment. When my children are caught being dishonest in their small ways, they are grounded.
Being "grounded" might just be a just punishment for this practice, also. :rolleyes:

LoL, hilarious... made my day ;)

Seems to me that an experienced baggage handler could recognize a heavy bag when he picks it up. Perhaps it is, or could be, weighed again at that point and rejected. Upon arrival at your destination, the airline should inform you of the charges to have your baggage shipped to your destination. One or two times of that and I'll bet you wouldn't check overweight baggage again.