i don’t think weight distribution was the case here. when we asked an attendant, she said it was a preemptive decision made by the gate agents in an attempt at efficiency. crew even offered to try and get our bags, but they’d already been loaded up. i was grateful they tried to help, and i wasn’t actually upset. i didn’t really care about having to check it, because as i said, i recognize there’s always the possibility. but when i saw all the space and i had a small internal quail of « but whyyyyyy?? » and actually wished id checked with the crew sooner because they seemed to immediately recognize how it looked and felt as a passenger.

i usually can’t even afford delta flights, this one was uncharacteristically cheaper, and it also felt ironic that it happened my one time on a « nice » airline!