Brilliant Kenya Airways

Another example of the brilliance of Kenya Airways...

Check-in guy: "Do you have any bags to check?"
Me: "No."
Check-in guy: "Any carry on?"
Me: (motioning to my small rolling suitcase) "Yes."
Check-in guy: "Can you weigh it please?"
Me: (thinking "Is he serious?" but still placing my bag on the scale) "Ok."
Me: (waiting....)
Check-in guy: "12 kilos. It is over the limit."
Me: (switching into argumentative mode) "But I always carry this bag!"
Check-in guy: "But Kenya Airways has strict regulations."
Me: "But I have carried heavier bags on the same flight."
Check-in guy: "Maybe if it were 10 kilos, but 12 is too much."
Me: "So what do you want me to do?"
Check-in guy: "You must remove something."
Me: "Umm..."

So I took my bag off the scale, opened it and pulled out the heaviest things I could think of - my portfolio and notebook, various electronics, my power converter (which is oddly heavy) - and put them in my large blue bag that I was carrying as my "personal item". I then placed the bag back on the scale. Check-in guy didn't look impressed with the new weight but said it was enough and I could take the bag on the plane.

I took my bag off the scale, walked 50 feet to the nearest bench, removed the items that I had transferred to my blue bag and repacked them in my rolling carry-on bag.

So what was the point of all of that!? If there is a weight limit on the bags because of some sort of airline regulation about the weight allowed on the plane, then that just doesn't make sense! I still had the same amount of weight; it was just distributed differently and I was able to redistribute it according to my preferences immediately afterwards.

There are some things about Kenya Airways that I will never understand. (Other things include their inability to depart on time or keep up with checked luggage.)