The point is that it doesn't make a difference. The 26" bag that I had to check is going to be sitting right next to my wife's pink tagged bag in the baggage compartment. Why not let me keep my things with me while I'm waiting for a flight? That way no one has to worry about tagging it as a standby bag, and where it's going to end up at the end of the day, and I don't need to worry about anything disappearing or getting broken. That's the point. Why make things harder than they have to be? It's just a case of someone who has no idea what's going on having too much power - which brings me back to my question: do these people have any authority whatsoever, or would it be permissible to tell them you're bringing the bag through whether they like it or not? After all they're NOT the airline and they're NOT TSA....