Originally Posted by
Machka
... ... ... And when you get to the airport, arrive very early, be the first person in line, and be as friendly, helpful, pleasant, nice, and cheerful as possible. Sometimes it helps.
This is extremely good advice. I have seen passengers thinking that if they are obnoxious that the ticket agents will get scared of them and succumb. I however have had the best luck getting better seats for free by being as pleasant as I possibly can be.
I got a cheap pocket sized luggage scale shipped from China on ebay for less than $10. Took a month to arrive, but it is a very useful thing to have for travel. I try to have my luggage 2 pounds lighter than the limit, rest of my weight is in carry on bag.
I also take a photo of my luggage before I check it, when you are trying to describe your luggage to someone at your destination airport, it helps to show what it looks like on your camera display.