It's funny we live outside Chicago. We usually always fly Southwest. I have NEVER been charged leaving Chicago, BUT when I leave Orlando I am. And here's the kicker last year we flew Air Tran and we were a half inch over and she charged us I believe $49.00 dollars my DH who flies every other week for work and for whom is also a very CALM man I thought was gonna lose it. Needless to say I will never fly Air Trans again, I know rules are rules. BUT a half inch come on..Southwest leaving Orlando has gotten me for weight, and you know what as much as I hate paying it I also understand that the men and women who lift those bags onto the plane could hurt themselves. But a half inch larger and underweight wouldn't hurt no one, BUT put more money in someones pocket and then they already charge you to check bags...
FLY SOUTHWEST, thats my advice!!!!
Sorry, but
if they measured your bag accurately and you're a 1/2" over, then you were oversize. They have to have a limit somewhere. If they let you get by with 1/2", then the guy behind you could argue if his is 1" over and the guy behind him 1 1/2". The question is did they really measure the bag accurately, counting wheels, handles, and any bulges. I don't have a problem with the 61" size, but think they should measure accurately and consistently. I usually fly Air Tran and love them, but this past Dec they were measuring just about all bags that looked even close and were definitely adding inches to their measurements. If the bags didn't stand up straight they were leaning them against the wall, then measuring at the bottom of the bag from the wall out to the edge of the bag, including the empty space between the wall and the bottom of the bag where it leaned. I always weigh and measure my bag
after packing and make sure it is well below the 61". My duffel has the straps on it to tighten which helps holds things in place and also makes the bag smaller. I know if there is a difference in our measurments, it's going to be the AirTran CR that has the bigger measurement, but I'm going to make sure they can't add enough to make the bag oversized. Even with the double straps tightened to make the bag smaller, the CR was trying to pull the material up on both ends of those straps to make it bigger and were measuring at that point for the width (from the wall across the empty space where the lean was, then across the poofed up material of the duffel below the restraining straps). My bag made it that day, but there were alot of people's who didn't. Now I'm sure some actually had oversized bags, but there were also some who obviously didn't. The family in front of us were told that all three of their duffels were oversized and sorry, but if they had not counted the lean there is no way they would have been. The family was arguing, offering to hold their bags straight up, but the CR was not having it and when a manager type was called he sided with the CR refusing to allow the bags to be remeasured standing up straight.
Of course they were also measuring all wheels, handles, and bumps, which they are supposed to. If your bag is a duffel, not full, and you stand it on end, things will fall to the bottom, making it buldge at the bottom while empty at the top. They measure that bulge, which again is fine. However, they should not have counted that empty space between the wall and the base of the bag where it was leaned up against the wall and if your bag had one of those soft cloth handles on top or on the side that lie flat (like a lot of duffels do), they were raising them up, running their fingers under them several times to force them stand up as tall as possible and then measuring them to the top of them also.
I've flown since then and have never seen them acting the way they were that day. That morning you could feel the tension in the air and it was obvious they had been told to catch as many bags as possible. They were adding centimeters everywhere they could, counting the empty space between the wall and the bottom of the bag while leaning, forcing soft handles to be as tall as possible, and stretching out empty material on the duffels to puff them up as much as possible.
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