A woman disguised her excess carry-on items as a pregnancy bump in order to avoid extra baggage fees on Ryanair. I’m not so convinced about this particular incident though this trick has certainly been tried (successfully) before…
Woman Fakes Pregnancy To Avoid Ryanair Baggage Fees
Grace Hale was flying from London (STN) to Edinburgh (EDI) on the Irish budget carrier and “discovered” (how does one suddenly discover this…?) that she had t00 many carry-on items. To avoid paying to check a bag, she took her make-up bag and two jackets and fashioned them into the shape of a bump on her stomach, closing her overcoat over them.
Per Hale, she had no trouble getting onboard her flight.
@gracecatherinehale Its a boy and we’re naming him Ryan @Ryanair
“There are going to be a lot of pregnant Ryanair passengers because it’s so expensive to take a bag with you.”
Viewers on TikTok have praised her for her “quick thinking” and “ingenuity,” but it appears she already had a large carry-on bag and personal item…Ryanair is really not the carrier for you if you are a heavy packer!
I don’t put much stock in TikTok and think there’s a reasonable chance this entire video is contrived. I mean, that coat…she never cut the X stitching in the back, suggesting the overcoat was just purchased (which would undermine the claim that she just “suddenly” had the great idea to fake her pregnancy).
People stuffing an extra layer of clothes on them is nothing new, though I had not heard of this…until I looked in the archive and saw that I had written about a traveler named Rebecca Andrews in Australia who did the exact same thing in 2019:
She offered a nine-step guide on how to do it:
1) Pre-check into the flight or go to the do-it-yourself computer thingy at the airport: do not check in at the airline counter.
2) Go through security then head to the bathroom.
3) Find the baby-change area as it’s bigger than a toilet cubicle.
4) Put on something stretchy or Lycra — a good reason to be a cyclist.
5) Wrap your smallest but heaviest items — aka electronics — in something satin: the more slippery the fabric, the easier it is to slide down your front.
6) Shape it into a baby bump (or a beer-belly) — five months is best as you don’t need to change the way you walk.
7) Put your laptop/ tablet / book down your back. Make sure it is secure and won’t slip around (use stockings or similar if you feel you need to tie it on).
8) Double layer your clothes. TIP: the baggier the better.
9) A thick jacket — leather or puffer — is the icing on the cake.
See, there’s nothing new under the sun…
I’m not encouraging anyone to fake a pregnancy in order to save a few bucks on a bag, but these sorts of tricks can come in handy even when you are within carry-on size regulations but your bag weighs too much…
> Read More: Woman Fakes Pregnancy To Avoid Carry-On Bag Fee
image: @gracecatherinehale / TikTok
Now that this was posted on Tik Tok, wouldn’t be surprised if FR will start to crack down on this.
She is smuggling, not permitted. What would be ok is to wear lots of clothed taken out of an expandable bag but smuggling another bag is wron̈g.
This has such a “make tomato soup for free with the restaurant’s ketchup and hot water” icky feel.
Lol.
Exactly how much was she saving? This seems like way too much trouble to save few quid on.
LOOOOOL
Wasn’t there an “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy tried to smuggle in a large cheese from Europe by disguising it as a baby bump ?
Actually, I think she pretended it was a baby in arms, thinking they fly free. When a FA notices and wants to charge the fare for a baby on an international flight, Lucy’s solution is for her and Ethel to eat the baby.
Gross.
So… this means Jetway Jesus has come to Ryanair.
This isn’t Jesus. No one healed.
The is Jetway Roe v Wade. The bump got aborted.