Travel hacks are one of the industry’s best developments in recent memory. From hacks that will help you get a free lunch, beat ‘recline rage’, or ensure you can sit next to your pals using Mia Khalifa’s dirty trick, all of them are interesting but some are more successful than others.
This week, however, a travel hack has split opinion in a big way after going viral on Instagram. The short but controversial video shows a passenger lading their oversized luggage onto the dedicated check-in desk before executing a subtle but clever maneuver. Watch it in full below…
In case you missed it — though I can’t imagine you did… — the man flicks his foot up underneath his luggage to secretly lift part of it off the belt and reduce the recorded weight. While the clip isn’t long enough to see the exact outcome, we assume the aim of the game here is to enjoy a reduced charge for his oversized and strangely shaped piece of baggage.
Why has this divided opinion so intensely? Well, for a number of reasons which can best easily be measured by looking at the comments. Perhaps the strangest of these was from Addidas who, seeing that the man in question was decked out almost head-to-toe in their brand, expressed their unequivocal support for the move…
“IQ level 100…”
@addidas
Others were a lot less pleased, however. Some called this out for what it really is: small-scale fraud…
“It’s literally stealing, are you guys applauding crime?”
@chawclet
While some went even further, some might say to the point of scaremongering, by pointing out unqualified risks of this practice…
“Its cool until the plane goes down from the weight…”
@damian_lorincz
Many were quick to clap back at this by pointing out that passenger weight often varies massively and planes never seem to go down as a result of their excess weight. Nevertheless, the comment clearly struck a chord, garnering 27,000 likes in only a few days.
If you are worried about the weight of your luggage, we’ve got a couple of other unorthodox but less controversial tips for you. The first comes from travel regular Robert Kraus:
“I always have an empty, lightweight tote in a side pocket… Just in case. I [also] always leave a little part of the bag, usually the wheel end facing me, on the edge of the scale…”
Robert Kraus
Whatever tactic you choose to adopt, I think we can all agree — as one Alaska Airlines check-in agent broke company policy to admit — “these ‘gotcha’ fees are capitalism at its worst”. So, while nobody wants to see their plane dipping under unexplained weight, we can’t blame you for wanting to save a few dollars here and there.
Word to the wise: do what you will to get your bags onboard, but don’t post it all over social media…