A video has gone viral on TikTok that purports to show how to beat paying baggage fees by stuffing clothes inside a pillowcase. This is not a travel hack I would rest on…
Pillow Flies Free? It Depends.
The premise of the video, which has racked up over 17 million views, is simple. Pillows generally don’t count toward your carry-on or personal item limit, so filling a pillow case with clothing or other items is a smart “hack” to beat extra baggage charges.
@nolimitua #travelhack #travelhacks #pillowtransformation #lifehack #travellight #noonesgonnaknow #traveltips #travellife #traveltip
That’s a dangerous premise to rest on, though. I’ve looked through the carry-on rules of several airlines inside and outside the United States and cannot find any reference that a pillow would not count as a personal item, particularly one as large as in the video above.
I certainly stipulate that in most cases this trick probably would work…but isn’t that true for any bag? It is so rare, at least in my experience, to see carriers actually strictly enforce their carry-on limit.
The 11-second video has thus far attracted more than 7,000 comments.
When one person asked, “Anyone checked that this actually works?” the video creator responded that it has worked seven times thus far.
I don’t doubt that. However, I think stuffing socks and underwear into a neck pillow is quite a different matter than trying to stuff a ski parka into an oversized pillow case.
Just be prepared, if you use this trick, to pay up if you get “caught” with the extra item, because it technically isn’t a loophole you can rely on.
CONCLUSION
While it is a common sight to see travelers with a pillow around their neck or in their arm along with their carry-on item and personal item, this is not a policy to bank on in order to avoid baggage fees. But bravo for the clever video.
I’m curious, how many of you have used a pillow case to skirt carry-on limits?
So much scrolling just to get to the comments section 🙁
+1
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I’d like to see her reaction when she’s forced to gate check her pillow… And if love to see it come out at baggage claim
LOL
I’d love to see it come out at the baggage carousel empty! Wha wha!
Easy. If not permitted to bring the pillow, she just wears several blouses, socks, etc.
I will occasionally put my everyday purse and other items in a larger (but not obnoxiously large) tote bag and carry that aboard as my personal item.
Great idea! Buy a neck pillow cover and fill that!
https://www.amazon.com/Cloudz-Washable-Travel-Pillow-Cover/dp/B078WV3ZG8/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=neck%2Bpillow%2Bcovers%2Bwith%2Bzipper&qid=1633722894&sr=8-2&th=1
Shockingly, I’ve seen DL agents enforcing it a lot in the fast few months. Including an onboard agent making people condense their belongings into the allowed 1+1 as the board from the jet bridge.
Isn’t this an old post?
Yes, it is.
So why has it suddenly popped up as a new one, dated May 20 2022?
What would really be amazing is if these TT clowns put as much thought into paying their educational loans as they do trying to screw others over. They think they are getting one over when really all they are doing in increasing the cost of travel for everyone as we are all seeing.
Always looking for a handout.
You really have no idea how TT works, do you? In most cases people are either
1) Making good money off of TT making them able to pay off their educational loans
or
2) The skipped college altogether and are making money off of TT, so no loans to pay back to begin with.
How are they increasing the cost of travel, exactly? Trolls just gotta troll about something, I guess.
Correct. My knowledge of TT is a bunch of blacks shucking and jiving. I just figured finding ways to not pay their fair share was a natural extension of that.
But you are probably correct, most minorities got free rides to college and owe nothing. It’s the children of hard working middle class whites who were stupid enough to run up education debt.
Thank you for setting me straight Aaron. Can always could on you to tell it like it is.
I don’t know if you’re testing Matthew to see what vile nonsense you can keep posting without getting banned, or you’re pushing him to ban you so that you can whine about how your free speech rights were taken away.
Either way, your views are gross and disgusting.