US Airways...Strong Arm Bandits

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly a US Airways jet to Reno, Nevada for a conference.  Usually I'm a customer of AirTran or Delta, as I live in Atlanta, so this was a new carrier for me.  Since the media regularly broadcasts the latest shenanigans of the various airline "brain trusts", I was aware of the baggage surcharges that probably awaited me.  Since I was going to the conference to make pictures, I had a fair bit of photo gear in my bag, which put it over the 50 pound limit.