India, Sept. 7 -- I thought I had packed sensibly for my flight. My ticket gave me 15 kg of check in baggage and 7 kg of cabin baggage, so I was confident I had enough room for everything I needed. Then came the airport scale. My cabin bag tipped the scales at 18 kg. My check-in bag, on the other hand, was only 6 kg. I asked if I could simply move some of the heavier things from my cabin suitcase into my check-in bag. It seemed like the most obvious solution, especially since I had unused check-in allowance. But I was told I could not do that and would have to pay the excess baggage charge.

Three extra kilos cost me Rs.2,100. I paid it, received a proper printed bill with the GST details and tax component, and moved on. There was no ambi...