...even worse if you try to take a bag that is clearly too big onboard, they waive the fee at the gate which "punishes" the people responsible enough to check.

...even worse if you try to take a bag that is clearly too big onboard, they waive the fee at the gate which "punishes" the people responsible enough to check. What annoys me is the airlines that have responded to this problem by posting "minders" outside the security gates. These folks are usually positioned to maximally embarrass and psychologically pressure (there are people behind you waiting!) anyone foolish enough to try to prove their bag actually does fit, even in the absurdly small "tester" frame. And whatever you think of the TSA, I don't like airlines piggy-backing on the nominally important security process. It's dishonest "authority by association"—the TSA couldn't care less about a few extra combined inches in your luggage—and promotes degrading the screening process into general purpose policy enforcement.