Story from Reddit that got removed

About two years ago I was flying from Australia to Canada to return home from a summer work placement. I was gearing up for a ~24 hour flight, and luckily I'm the type of person who is always worried about being late. I showed up 5 hours early for my flight to make sure any problems I had could be sorted out with time to spare. When I arrived at the airport, I headed for the bagcheck desk.

Important note, the airline I flew down on had a rule where you could check one bag and take two carry-on's onto the plane with you - one for the overhead compartment and a smaller one for under the seat in front of you. Every airline I've ever flown on operates like this so I figured its a standard thing. I confidently approach the desk with a larger backpack on my back, a smaller backpack in my hand, and my suitcase in the other hand. I set the small backpack down on the floor and begin checking in my suitcase. All is fine and I watch it disappear down the conveyor belt. I pick up my smaller bag and start to head to the security line when the bagcheck lady calls to me.

Me = Me. BL = Bagcheck Lady.

BL: Excuse me, sir!

Me, turning around confused: Yes? What's up?

BL: I didn't see that you have a second bag, we have to weigh your carry-on's if you are bringing two to make sure they don't weigh too much

Me: Okay, that's not a problem.

I'm happy to do this as I've never had a carry-on weight problem before. I guess the airline I was flying back on had different baggage rules than the one I flew in on, because the both of the bags I put on the scale were way overweight for the carry-on guidelines. (Note: I hadn't overpacked either - I don't remember the exact numbers but I remember the weight limit for carry-on's being surprisingly small).

BL: I'm sorry, your bags are too heavy.

Me: What am I supposed to do? My suitcase is already gone so I can't rearrange.

BL: International flights get a second bag checked for free. If you can get one bag under weight we can check the other one no problem.

My bags were packed as much as humanly possible with things I had acquired while in Australia (I had gone there partly as part of a sports team and was given all my gear once I landed in Australia, not in Canada before I left which would have made more sense). Long story short, there wasn't enough room in any one bag to fit enough stuff to get a second bag underweight. Checking both bags would have cost me about $500. It's important to say that the bagcheck lady was actually very helpful, she showed me where I could buy additional luggage (not possible because the last of my money was spent on the flight home) and offered to get me a cardboard box (which was far too small and broke almost immmediately).

After about 2 hours I start running out of options and hope. I'm just about to start throwing out my heavy things when I look around the airport for inspiration. In this airport, there were some small shops and services on the inside of the main doors, like coffee shops and small electronics stores, classic airport stuff. One of the shops is a wrapping station, where you can get a suitcase wrapped in plastic so that it doesn't open during the flight. Cue malicious compliance. I begin taking out the stuff I would need for the flight (phone, snacks, headphones) and cram the rest of my stuff back into the backpacks. I take the two bags to the wrapping guy and offer to pay him double to wrap the two things together until they are functionally one thing. He gives me a strange look but works it out pretty well, even leaving a handle sticking out so I can carry the monstrosity relatively easily.

I go back to the bagcheck and tell the lady that I'd like to check a second bag, before placing the heap of plastic onto the scale. She looks at me confused.

BL: What is this?

Me: Tecnically, It's one bag.

She looks at me like she's trying to hold back laughter as she weighs it. Thankfully, its under the weight limit for checked baggage. My "one bag" goes down the conveyor and I head to security.