the final Frontier

I had some sympathy for a guy as I was checking in on WestJet at ZIH last month. He had a small “personal item” and a tube that looked like it would hold a fishing rod. This was not a big piece of PVC, but a small diameter tube maybe a metre and a half long. It looked to be not very robust. I thought it was curious that the person would use that item as checked luggage.

When he got to check in he said he had carryon only. No checked luggage. The WestJet agent said the item had to be checked. The guy said it was an expensive fishing rod that he always took onboard to keep it safe. He said it laid in the back of an overhead bin and took up no space.

I’m guessing the guy was correct. It probably didn’t interfere in any way with “properly sized” carryon luggage in an overhead bin. He said he had never had to check it.

On the other hand, it greatly exceeded the WestJet maximum dimension for carryon that is 53 cm. The agent was clearly correct that it did not meet the requirements for carryon.

I finished checking in before the discussion ended, but I don’t think the fishing rod case would have faired well, regardless of how many “FRAGILE” stickers they tried to put on it.