A woman has revealed how she faked a pregnancy in order to avoid paying baggage fees on a Melbourne flight to Sydney, in an article for escape.com.au. And according to the brazen travel writer, she nearly got away with it too.
In the blog post titled "I got caught faking a pregnancy to save $60 on a Jetstar flight", Rebecca Andrews recalled how she tried to get out of Jetstar's $60 AUD ($40) excess baggage fee by hiding her clothes and laptop in the leopard-print bodysuit she was wearing, creating a faux baby bump.
This couple were caught coming out of a plane toilet:"They’re very reliable," Andrews writes. "They cancel and delay their flights all the time. They’re always inflexible with check-in times and if your carry-on is 1g over the limit you know they’ll slap you with the excess."
"Their staff wander around with scales at the boarding gate, so you can’t sneak things into your luggage at the last minute because they’ll definitely re-weigh your bags," the travel writer adds. "I decided to do the practical thing and fight their system. It almost worked."
Andrews even posted a video to Instagram in which she demonstrates her hilarious travel hack, placing her items inside her jumpsuit.
Check out the handy travel hack here:She also puts her laptop case down her back and keeps it in place using the straps on her one-piece outfit.
Andrews continues:
"I am very serious, I definitely did do this, and it ALMOST worked. I did steps 1-9 and once all my layers were arranged, I came out of the baby-room at Gate 53 in Sydney Airport, to find a mum changing her kid’s nappy. 'How far along are you?' she asked me looking at my tummy. 'Three kilos, give or take,' I said, rolling my much lighter case behind me, 'Er, I mean five months.'
I walked very erectly (TIP: you have to keep your shoulders back, you’ll find out why in a second) to the gate, and found I was the LAST person to board my flight. Which was my ONLY mistake — the staff were all paying me attention. Collectively, they weighed my bag, and with smiles gave me the all-clear."
But just when Andrews thought she had gotten away with her little money-saving ruse, she managed to drop her ticket as she walked down the gangway, and in the process of bending over to pick it up, the shape of her laptop suddenly became apparent. The jig was up and staff insisted that she pay the $60 for baggage fees.
Despite what you'd think was probably quite an embarrassing situation, Andrews insists she would gladly do it again.
"Honestly, if my carry-on was ever overweight I would do it again and just make sure I was not the last person to board," she writes.
An entirely different woman went viral for wearing all of her clothes to avoid an excess baggage fee.
