At QX we were able to subtract a certain number of CO's (the number being based on the the total number of pax on board) that were put in back from the total A/C weight. They had to be accounted for to ensure that we did not exceed the weight limit of the cargo compartment - but we could then subtract that weight from the total ZFW. This was a good solution to this problem and kept us from having to move CO bags into the cabin (something we did before we had the new procedure approved).

Speaking of ZFW - I'm not sure about Mesa's 200's but the ones that we had had QX were often restricted by max ZFW. If we had even a moderate number of bags in the cargo compartment, we could not take a jumpseater - and in some cases we could not even fill up the cabin. We were rarely limited by takeoff or landing weights, but the ZFW killed us.