For frugal travelers looking to make their disposable income stretch far, extra baggage fees are an unwanted expense. Adriana Ocampo, 19, shared her latest travel story with South West News Service where she tried to save on the baggage fees but plans backfired in a dramatic way.
Ocampo was trying to outsmart the luggage system fees by wearing over 13 pounds of clothing but the airline caught onto the hack. She was forced to pay the fine and bear the public embarrassment among other fellow travelers and social media users with her viral videos.
“I looked like a bear. I’m small and petite but I looked like the exact opposite,” Ocampo said.
Ocampo was returning from a girls’ trip with her friend Emily Altamura and she was aware that her luggage exceeded the 15-pound limit. After being unable to close her bag in the hotel room, she knew she would be caught if the flight attendants brought out the weighing scale.
“When we went to board, we saw them pulling out a trolley with a scale,” Ocampo said. “We thought the only way we can take the weight off our bags is if we put it on ourselves so we started putting on our jackets and coats.” Her thinking was that a little bit of discomfort can cut down on the growing expenses.
Ocampo was giggling as she emptied the clothing from the suitcase and started wearing 15 different things, including an iPad sticking out of her pants. “I was hysterical, I was laughing so much,” said Ocampo, who thought she was similar to Augustus Gloop from “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”
After the new look, Ocampo’s suitcase had two pairs of shoes, a bag, a pair of jeans and a couple of socks left.
Her friend followed her inspiration and began to do the same with the hopes of dodging the fines. Even though these girls tried their best to make it work without paying an extra penny, the airline made them pay the $65 fine.
“Everyone in line was staring at us and laughing at us, it was kind of embarrassing,” said the traveler. “People were annoyed that we were holding the plane up.”
This hack was an epic fail and the pair had to pay the fine as well as sit through the 80-minute flight with their insane amount of layers. “This is how I’m going on the flight,” Ocampo said prior to boarding. “I’m in tears.”
Jetstar Airways airline spokesperson said: “While we certainly see the funny side, we have limits to carry-on to make it fair for everyone. Keeping track of how much baggage passengers bring onboard means everyone has room for their belongings and we’re meeting our safety requirements.”
Source: https://nypost.com/2023/05/17/teen-fined-by-airline-over-ridiculous-clothing-baggage-hack/