A flight attendant has shared a ‘genius’ hack to avoid luggage fees and bring extra items on board – and it only requires using a duty-free shopping bag. Here’s how it’s done

Flight attendant Miguel Muñoz shared a sneaky trick to help passengers dodge extra luggage fees by utilising a duty-free shopping bag. By repurposing a duty-free bag to carry clothes and other items that won’t fit in your hand luggage, you can essentially sneak an extra bag on board.

According to Miguel, “duty-free bags don’t count as carry-on baggage,” so gate agents tend to turn a blind eye. To take advantage of this hack, holidaymakers can either bring a duty-free bag from home or purchase one at the airport’s duty-free shop.

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Miguel explained: “If you have something that doesn’t fit in your suitcase or you want to bring an extra bag on board, here’s the trick.

“All you have to do is carry a duty-free bag. Or ask for one at the duty-free shop and you place whatever you want in the shopping bag. There is obviously limited space, but at least you are bringing an extra bag on the plane with you.”

Miguel added: “Now you know. If you ever find yourself in that situation, just put whatever you want in a duty-free bag. You are welcome!”

Another clever method is to use a “fake pillow,” – essentially a pillowcase filled with extra items – which doesn’t count as a piece of luggage. However, passengers will need to bring their own pillowcase, reports the Express.

This hack has been shared by hundreds of travellers on social media, who claim that security officers and gate agents rarely bat an eye.

A TikTok user shared a top tip that could change the game for frequent flyers, revealing: “I did it on two transatlantic flights and it worked,” while another commented: “It certainly seems genius to me!”

Use your clothes to carry extra items

Avoid those pesky luggage charges by turning your attire into an extra suitcase.

A savvy traveller from Handluggageonly elucidated: “Pack all the clothes you need in your backpack but if that person checking you in for your flight turns around and says anything about your bag being overweight and tries to charge you the excess baggage fare, simply pop over to the bathroom and wear as many clothes as possible.

“Technically, no one can say anything about the fact that you just wore your extra clothes on you instead of having them in your luggage and more importantly – they can’t charge you the extra fare as your bag weight should be much more in line.”

Creative passengers have turned pockets into nifty compartments for their toiletries, chargers, socks and other compact essentials.