I stumbled on this…. One of my bags were over weight; I wore a winter coat to reduce weight. It’s to reduce the abuse on baggage handlers, which I agree with on first face. 50 pounds is the agreed on threshold where the airlines cannot demand a handler to lift on their own; technically they cannot force a single person to lift in excess of 50 pounds. (For UPS, it was 70 pounds). It forces the airlines to provide accommodation for at least two people to move a heavy thing. In practice, the airlines will take damn near anything, and… Read more »