1 suitcase = 2.61 people

(please see note at bottom)

Checking in with Air Ryan yesterday I noted how many people were max'ing out on their carry-on luggage. If you paid for checking a bag, it's likely to have cost you over 2.5x as much as your seat ticket.  
It's quite the game - maybe the comedy series 2 and a half men would be appropriate here?  nah.... 
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Of all the games played in the travel industry minimizing people to faceless, add-on commodities to help make a Wall street earnings call - this is one of the worse:
The game of carry-on bags. It must be 35x20x20cm and if you paid extra (only $7.50)for a carry-on cabin bag it must be 55x40x20cm.  And they can't weigh more than 10kg (22lbs).  It's unclear if that's together or just for the cabin bag.  But wait!  There's an important part missing: your coat.  Several years ago, we (frequent travelers) figured out how to route around these increasingly crazy regs:  stuff your coat pockets with the heavy stuff as needed.  Of course that means you need a sturdy coat with lotsa pockets.  My outdoor parka fits nicely.  On my last trip it weighed over 30 lbs stuffed with heavy 2Euro coins, 16 oranges, batteries, power supply, swiss knife, etc.  What a pain to carry it around.  But you only need to get it past the gate admitting flight attendant, then you're free to stuff it back into your luggage. At the end of everything - it's still the same weight on the plane, right?  So why the hassle?  As usual, follow the money.
In 2017 USA airlines racked up $4.2 billion in extra baggage fees alone.  The number outside of ticket sales was $28 billion.  I think you get the picture... the airlines have a new business model:  what can we get away with outside of selling seats from point A to B. They call it 'ancillary sales'  i call it 'nickel & diming customers to death'. 
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A friend suggested we can pretend to be pregnant.  Not clear if males qualify.  I can see a whole new market here:  a kangaroo style belly

pouch bag that one can wear comfortably loaded with all kinds of heavy goodies.  There's an added advantage here - you may even qualify for early boarding, and get people to give up their seats on buses and trains (a big maybe!).  
Of course all this applies to discount airlines only - mostly, and not on Tuesdays.   With my millions of airmiles I've accumulated a few lifetime gold/platinum/tritriklium cards that entitle me to untold riches: like three free checked bags weighing no less than 32kg each - which means I have to do a lot of shopping to fill them all, and I end up with countless new suitcases on each trip. 
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Back to the 2.61 ratio.  For my return trip from Euroland to Spain to Stateland, I decided I would buy RyanAir's check luggage add-on feature.  And what a feature it is!  I paid $18 for the actual flight about 2 months ago.  I then added priority boarding which includes a seat assignment and extra cabin bag.  But if i go over 10kg (22lbs) oopps... there's that pesky $100 charge.  Guess what one checked luggage bag cost?  $47.00   That's 2.61x more than what I paid for a seat for my body.  Heck, couldn't we just agree that a luggage bag is a person, and can I have a seat (@ $18) for it?  We've figured out how to make a bodyless corporation into a human being, why not the same for a luggage bag?  

We all know how to convert that into inches right?  2.54 cm = 1 inch.  You divide by two and add 1/2 of that, or was it multiply by 1/2 and add 2 ?? 

And then of course we know what size that approximates:  a breadbox.  Try again... if your bag doesn't fit into the preformed metal bread box located at the airlines' departure gate - your screwed.  Really screwed.  They'll tag your bag, scan your ID/boarding pass which is directly linked to your credit card and send you a wonderful surprise when you're back at home from the airport:  a $100++ fee for that 'last minute' bag. 
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Let's face it, all of these are counterproductive.  The only reason - and I do mean the ONLY reason - for it is competitiveness.
A decade ago I saw a documentary about 'the future or life, thriving...' or something like that about a german exploring the reason why so many people are stressed out, depressed, and generally unhappy with their lives - it all boiled down to competition.  the only reason why most organizations did what they did was because in order to survive they had to compete.  There was no possible way for all organizations to call a cease fire and relax, enjoy making their product and/or service and allow their employees to retain some human'ness dignity.
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Now if it was 2.16 (instead of 2.61) then I would be in total uber-admiration of the airlines because it would give them equal billing with mother nature herself.  2.16 is the golden ratio: aka Fibonacci series.  It's the ratio that governs the planet & moon orbits, our body's ratios, petals of a rose, etc.  And if the airlines ever adapted to this, well then they would really be a 'force of nature'.  stay tuned... 


Note: I welcome any comments you may have on this... (I'm thinking about submitting it as a publishable article in some magazine/newspaper op ed)