Update: a gate agent in Atlanta called my bag a brick and made me rethink 3 years of packing
Honestly I got called out at the gate in Atlanta last month and it stung more than it should have. My bag was 24 lbs for a 3 day work trip and the agent picked it up, set it on the scale, and said flat out 'sir this feels like a brick, what do you have in here.' I had three jeans, two pairs of shoes, a hoodie I never wore, and a whole toiletry bag that was mostly stuff I buy at the drugstore anyway. What got me was her follow up, she said 'I see this on every flight out of here, people pack for the trip they planned not the trip they booked.' Since then I dumped the hoodie, swapped jeans for one pair, and went with a single pair of shoes plus flip flops. My bag dropped to 15 lbs and I stopped sweating the overhead bin fight. Ngl it was not about weight limits at all, it was about me hauling stuff I never touched. Has anyone else been called out by airline staff and actually changed their packing because of it?