Airport Pro-Tip that Shouldn’t Have you Charged Extra for Baggage

Have you ever struggled to fit everything you want to take within the baggage limits of your budget airline? Well, I certainly have, mainly due to having a bulky digital camera bag which takes up at least half of my current backpack. If you have ever traveled by plane, then you are likely aware that airlines charge for baggage, often including carry-ons.

 

Thankfully, having a mom who worked at an airport, I have learned a great hack to help get you around this! As I’m sure you know, international airports are almost always equipped with duty-free and other shops. If you purchase anything from any of these stores, you will receive your goods in a carrier bag that isn’t affected by baggage restrictions – something that seems like not many people are aware of. This in effect means that you can take a little extra luggage and put it in your carrier bag to avoid a fee at the gate. More often than not, you don’t even have to purchase anything, you can just ask a staff member if you can have a carrier bag and they are likely to oblige.

 

This also comes with the added benefit of helping you avoid any possible issues concerning any checked-in (or other carry-on) luggage being slightly over the weight limit or dimensions limits as a result of having too much inside. Should this happen, you should remove excess items and either wear/carry an extra layer for a short time, or put it in your duty-free bag later.

 

One thing to note is that some duty-free shops have sealable bags that they use for liquid purchases, which might be an obstacle to this hack.  If you purchase liquids and they seal the bag, just ask for an extra bag that doesn’t seal – they stock both.

Of course, this may seem like a bit of a brazen thing to do, especially if confidence isn’t on your side. However, with assurance from my mom through her own experience of working in that environment, most staff members are either happy to oblige or don’t care enough to make an issue of your request. As such, I won’t say that this is failsafe, as such requests and interactions entirely depend on the response of the other party (but there are plenty of stores in an airport to try another one if the first one doesn’t oblige. I think as long as you remain polite, and keep the request short and sweet, then there will likely be no issues. I have yet to receive a refusal, and I know that some of my travel buddies often use this hack too!

 

Don’t be afraid to give this hack a go if you find your baggage on the heavy side! But, also be aware this might carry some risk of refusal depending on the staff member you are asking.

 

You could also take an empty carrier bag with you just to be sure you have extra luggage capacity if you need it, saving you from asking for one, but I like it to at least look authentic, i.e. identifiable as one of the shops that operate in the airport.

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