You're probably right, but IME; whatever the occupation frontline serfs only enforce rules if they are confident management will back them up, even if it pisses off customers.
If they're not confident they won't play, because it's not worth the potential embarassment when the manager backs the skanky pax (sorry customer / 'guest'
) over the serf in the interests of 'customer service' and 'goodwill'.
From your username, I assume you are a LAME? Being a skilled tradesperson is very different from being a customer service serf, you have a lot more say in how things are done because your qualification allows you to sign off on things and your manager can't override that, even if they wanted to. As a serf, your options are pretty much shut up or push off.
This is where responsibility passes up the chain to the management who have to say 'This is what we expect, and we will back you up on it.' Ten to one...that isn't happening. If there was a culture of enforcing the baggage regs throughout our major airlines, we wouldn't be seeing these issues.