Norwegian Publishes Weird Ways Passengers Try to Evade Luggage Fees

Wearing multiple layers and donating luggage to charity top the ways flyers sought to elude luggage fees in 2016.

Flyers used a number of excuses to get out of paying luggage fees on low-cost carriers around the world, from bribery to even pretending to not understand English. The excuses were all collected by European low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle andpublished in a year-end summary.

“Even with our generous carry-on allowance, passengers flying during winter with shopping and bulkier items can increase the likelihood of their bags being non-compliant,” Stuart Buss, a spokesperson from Norwegian Air, explained in the statement. “Baggage issues can cause delays so it’s in our interest to make sure all bags are loaded quickly so that passengers can get away on time and enjoy their flight.”

Among the top-ten ways travelers avoided paying luggage fees in 2015 was wearing multiple layers of clothing. One flyer wore two winter coats and three sweaters, while another wore two suits aboard their aircraft. The top baggage buster flying on the carrier wore three pairs of pants aboard their flight, topped off with shoes in the jacket pockets.

While many got away with this, it can be a dangerous tactic. At least one flyer required medical attention after wearing too many layers aboard his flight earlier this year.

Other excuses flyers used to try and get out of baggage fees include claiming to not understand to speak English, claiming their luggage held expensive antique pottery and bribing gate agents with duty-free chocolate. In an extreme case, one flyer opted to donate his luggage to charity instead of check it to a final destination.

Flyers may have good reason to make every attempt to dodge airline luggage fees. In the third quarter of 2015 alone, the U.S. Department of Transportation reports airlines collected over $1 billion in luggage fees.

Credit: flyertalk