The airline hack that is dividing passengers

It’s easy to feel ripped off by the cost of air travel, but users are divided over one frequent flyer’s money-saving hack.

Any regular traveller has felt the pain of baggage weight restrictions at the airport. 

As you line up to check in, your pulse goes up and you start to sweat, because you know that - yet again - you were overly optimistic with your packing, and you're nudging that weight limit.

You're already wearing 19 layers of clothes in a bid to outsmart the system. You're super friendly to the airline rep when you get the front of the queue, hoping that your dazzling charm will distract them from your straining suitcase. You put your bag on the scales, attempting to make it look light as a feather, even though you just almost gave yourself a hernia trying to lift it.

@bed.sweater

the baggage lady was cool about it #airport #music #band #explore

♬ All Keyed Up - Ben Tankard

While most of us would simply offer up a prayer to the travel gods at this stage, Californian-based musical group Bed Sweater has a better solution. They uploaded a clip on TikTok last week to share their trick, showing a man clandestinely using his foot to prop up the luggage scale while the bags were being weighed by airline staff, presumably to make them seem lighter — and avoid oversized baggage fees.

“Kinda surprised this worked,” the band captioned the clip, which has been viewed over 2.4 million times.

They didn’t say where the footage was recorded but claimed elsewhere in the post that the “baggage lady was cool about it,” insinuating she knew what they were doing.

Some viewers praised band members for sharing the tip, with some admitting they’ve tried to do the same.

“I do this all the time. It works,” a user responded on TikTok.

“As someone who flew for years for work…I did this every week,” another agreed.

Image: TikTok

Although many appreciated it from a financial point of view, critics pointed out the bags are weighed for the safety of the passengers and staff.

“Crazy how you think that’s so clever but you’re jeopardising the flight and other passengers by screwing up the weight and balance,” one TikTok user scoffed.

“When you do this you are putting airline employees in harm’s way!” another raged. “The reason overweight baggage gets tagged is so that it can be team-lifted.”

It's not the first time a passenger has tried this trick. 

It seems people have been using this tactic for a while.

In 2020 the photo above, showing the 'lift your suitcase with your foot' trick went viral. 

With the New York Post 

Originally published as The airline hack that is dividing passengers