Another Rolex tragedy: My luggage...

More than a few tears were shed at the Delta ticket counter this morning. I brought my big suitcase to Rolex to accommodate the trade fair promo items, samples, and purchases. I paid my $15 luggage fee, but when they weighed my luggage it was 59 lbs, nine over the limit. I nodded politely when the agent told me this. "Okay, what is the fee?"

"That comes to $90," she replied. Seeing my shock, she said, "You can remove some of your items to bring the weight down."

Stunned, and feeling the pressure of my approaching flight time, I knelt down and opened my bag. In front of a crowd of onlookers, I searched through my loot to find I could carry on -- not the Corta-Flx samples (liquid), and not the cool toolkit I got from the Practical Horseman booth (dangerous). Certainly not my paisley rubber boots. Can I throw away 9 lbs of clothing? No. Do I want strangers watching me riffle through my stuff? No. Do I want to pay $90 to transport $30 worth of stuff? No.

The kindness of strangers
A stranger behind me (who incidentally had a suitcase bigger, and probably heavier, than mine) rose to my defense. In a voice filled with righteous inignation, he told the agent that this amounted to extortion for the privilege of keeping our items. His anger helped to defuse my own hard feelings. Let him go to bat for me. It didn't change the outcome but it calmed me down.

I gave up, and paid the fee. What is the basis for that fee, I wonder, now that fuel prices are down?

Into the red for April...
$90!!!! Well, actually $110 since I'd already been charged for the base rate -- think this is an overcharge and I've emailed Delta. Damn. That negates ALL of my great deals and free supplement samples. I'd planned to regale you with tales of great sales, and the FITS breeches and top I got for less than 1/2 price. Instead I'm whining about airlines, along with oh, about a BILLION other people.

At any rate, the breeches and top ARE really cool, and a size smaller than usual. :-)