A resourceful young traveller from the Philippines recently made headlines for her creative approach to avoid paying extra baggage fees on a flight.
Gel Rodriguez found herself in a predicament when her carry-on luggage exceeded the maximum weight of seven kilos, and she was informed by airline staff at the check-in counter that she would be charged a weight fee for her nine-kilo suitcase.
Determined to avoid the additional cost, Gel came up with a clever plan.
“I didn’t want to pay the fee for the excess baggage because it was only two kilograms,” Gel explained with a chuckle in an interview with VICE. Her solution? She decided to wear her extra baggage. Layering herself with multiple t-shirts, pants, and jackets, Gel managed to transform her overweight luggage from nine kilos to a mere 6.5 kilos, well below the weight limit.
In a Facebook post on October 2, Gel proudly shared a picture of herself wearing what appeared to be five t-shirts, three pairs of pants, and three jackets. She captioned the photo with a witty remark: “From 9kg to 6.5kg baggage,” followed by a laughing emoji and the hashtag #ExcessBaggageChallengeAccepted.
Gel’s post quickly went viral, amassing over 33,000 ‘likes’, 1,000 comments, and being shared more than 20,000 times. Many people found her approach ingenious and applauded her creativity. “Why didn’t I think of this? Hahaha,” commented one user. “I wish I did this, I ended up throwing some of my things in the trash bin. What a pity,” lamented another. Some even admitted to having done something similar in the past to avoid paying weight fees, showing that Gel’s idea struck a chord with fellow travellers.
Despite the attention her post received, Gel admitted that wearing multiple layers of clothing at the airport was not the most comfortable experience. “It was really hot,” she revealed. Nevertheless, she was pleased with the outcome and the money she saved in baggage fees. She also joked that if she had known her post would go viral, she would have “posed better” in the picture, showing her lighthearted and humorous attitude towards the situation.
Would you try this?
