Taking Flight with a Common Sense Approach

Recently my in-laws flew to visit us. If you have flown in the last couple of months, you know that the baggage restrictions for checked baggage have changed. Many airlines have now gone to restricting passengers to checking one piece of baggage free of charge. This is the case with Delta, which was the airlines my in-laws flew with. I do not have a problem with the new rule. It might be hard for some trips but I can deal with it. What I have issue with is people not using common sense.
My father in-law is an amputee. He has a prosthetic leg from the knee down. It is necessary and advantageous for him to have crutches at times. Delta would not let him check the crutches without paying an additional $50. Are you kidding me? So, he had to choose between his bag and his crutches or pay a fine. That is a bit ridiculous. He choose to carry-on his crutches. That makes traveling easy. So, an amputee is required to carry-on his crutches so he can have clothes? My father-in-law thought this was ridiculous. He told me about it in a non-chalant way and pretty much said, "Give me a break." I kept thinking about it and decided this just couldn't be the rule. So, I checked the fine print. Here's what I found:
Passengers who require medical supplies or equipment during their travel may check an additional item free of charge. They can also carry the item on with them, on top of the regular carry-on allowance, as long as the item meets size and weight restrictions.
Now the issue is that the Delta employees at the airport that my in-laws flew out of must not have known the rule details. This is where using common sense comes in. I cannot believe that the check-in employees didn't use their brain with this one...maybe try using a common sense approach to enforcing rules. If it doesn't make sense, check it out.

If something doesn't make sense, check it out before doing it. That's a pretty good rule to live by, I think.