Trick to avoid carry-on bag fee goes viral but traveller regrets it

This article was one of Herald Travel’s best-read stories of 2023

One woman’s tactic to avoiding an unexpected baggage fee has gone viral for a second time but she admits she would not do it again.

Gel Rodriguez, a traveller from the Philippines, was forced to get creative when an airline weighed her carry-on bag and found it was 2.5 kg overweight.

Rodriguez shared her trick for getting the bag back under 7kg in a Facebook post, which shows her standing in an empty airport, wearing what looks like several layers of clothing.

In the caption, she explained what had happened.

“When the airline staff at the check-in counter said: ‘YOU ARE IN EXCESS, only 7kg is allowed to hand carry. Me: NO PROBLEM!” the post read.

So, where did the 2.5kg of weight go? According to Rodriguez’s post, she was wearing it.

In the post, which has been liked 49,000 times since it was first posted in 2019, Rodriguez explained how she donned are than 10 extra pieces of clothing that had been in her carry-on bag.

Thousands of people commented on the post and many said they had used a similar tactic to avoid typically high baggage fees.

“Real heroes don’t wear capes…They wear 50 pairs of pants,” jokes one person.

Others had not come across the technique. “Thank you for the idea,” wrote one person.

“What a brilliant mind,” commented another.

Despite the popularity online, Rodriguez told VICE she would not recommend other travellers follow suit and personally would not do it again, saying it was “really hot” wearing so many layers.

The traveller did joke that, had she known the post would be so popular for so long, she would have struck a slightly better pose.

Similarly, a UK traveller went viral in 2019 after piling on clothes to sidestep a hefty $128 overweight baggage fee and just like Rodriguez, 30-year-old Natalie Wynn said she was “boiling” during the flight.

This article was originally published on April 27, 2023