Dear USAirways

Last night on a flight from Denver to Phoenix, just as I was boarding the plane I had my roller suitcase taken away from me. I was told that it was "too big and too heavy" by a not-very-pleasant gate agent. She said it would have to be placed with the checked luggage. I always travel light so I can carry on my luggage and save time bypassing luggage claim.

Your agent was wrong. My suitcase is the appropriate size for the overhead bin. It fit in the bin on the way to Denver and was even lighter leaving Denver. As a business traveler, I've been doing this for years. It's never been a problem on a plane that is larger than a regional jet.

I tried to reason with the agent, but she insisted her manager said to do this. I asked to speak to her manager. She said that if I talked to her manager and made the flight late, they would pull me off and rebook me for the next morning. I told her I didn't need to be threatened over a suitcase. She insisted it wasn't a threat. Sure, telling me that I might have to stay in Denver another night isn't a threat. She then started talking to the next passenger to take away their suitcases, which were the same small size as mine. It was clear that she didn't want to deal with me any more and that I wasn't going to talk with a manager.

I simply wanted to insist that this requirement to check my bag was unnecessary. It would fit in an overhead bin. It always does.

I was sent over the deep end of anger when I got on the plane and saw that every single bin on the plane had plenty of space. I was one of the first 20 people to board the plane so there was still tons of room. There was no obvious reason for my suitcase to be taken and placed in luggage. It was simply another inconvenience without explanation. The real kicker? We left Denver with overhead bins that had extra room. My suitcase could have easily fit in the bin across from my seat. But instead, I had to spend an extra 30 minutes in the airport collecting my bag when we arrived in Phoenix.

US Airways, in the future please don't waste my time and your employees time by doing silly things like this. And if you need to do this, please give me a realistic explanation. Because hearing the gate agent tell me that her manager told her to do this simply isn't enough of an explanation.

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