The ticket agent looked at me as if I was hiding something when I checked in for a recent flight from Nicosia, Cyprus, to Tel Aviv, Israel.

"Show me your bags," she commanded.

I rolled my regulation-size carry-on across the tiled floor so she could see it.

"On the scale!" 

Nine kilos. She shook her head slowly. "You will have to check it."

The agent jabbed a finger toward a lonely cashier at the edge of the terminal, where I would pay $50 to have my regulation-size carry-on flown in the cargo hold for 45 minutes.

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