‘They need to know the exact weight of the airplane for safety reasons’: Viewers concerned after passenger shares hack to not having to pay for overweight luggage
Travelers revealed a trick they used to avoid paying for overweight luggage.
In a video that was viewed over 5.5 million times since it went up on July 2 and uses the audio "nobody's gonna know," @christieswadlingg shared the "hack" in question. The popular TikToker's fiancé uses his foot to prop up her overweight luggage, thus alleviating the weight and avoiding overweight baggage fees that many airlines charge. According to Cabin Zero, most airlines have a weight restriction of 40 to 50 pounds for checked bags. "Higher ticket classes" usually have more wiggle room as most airlines have a weight restriction of up to 70 pounds for those passengers.
It's unclear how much @christieswadlingg's bag weighed, and it's likely @christieswadlingg and her fiancé didn't even know as the text overlay on her video says: "When you already know she packed over her weight limit."
The Daily Dot reached out to @christieswadlingg via TikTok comment and direct message for more information. Some viewers felt inspired to do this on their next flight.
“Does that [actually] work, might be worth a try next time,” one viewer wrote.
“I wanna try this,” a second echoed.
On the other hand, most urged not to do this for safety reasons.
“They need to know the exact weight of the airplane for safety reasons, it’s all put into calculations to not overpack on fuel,” one user explained.
“It’s for your own safety dude.. now imagine everyone in the plane does this. Weight distribution fails and you all come crashing down and die,” a second commented.
According to Plane & Pilot, “Overweight operations can have negative physical effects on your aircraft. Many aircraft have landing weight restrictions, with landings over that weight potentially causing damage over time to the landing gear or other stress points in the aircraft. Increased weight and load factor can even cause additional stress on an aircraft during flight if not designed for that level of weight.”
In 2019, a Michigan plane crash, that reportedly killed five and injured one made headlines. According to the Associated Press, the plane was “more than 200 pounds (91 kilograms) overweight and its load was too far back in the aircraft, contributing to it being difficult to control.”
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