We all know how much of a ballache it is trying to keep your luggage under a certain limit.
One woman flying on a Jetstar plane didn’t want to pay the fees for going over her 1kg carry on allowance. So she made the natural conclusion to get pregnant and avoid the $60 fee.
Instead of wearing all the layers and the heaviest pair of shoes like most of us, travel writer Rebecca Andrews decided to create a baby bump.
Trying to pull a fast one over the staff, Rebecca stuffed some clothes into her ‘bump’ and even fitted a laptop on her back while travelling through a Sydney airport.
Hilariously enough, her preparation for the heist was interrupted by an actual pregnant mum who wanted to chat about babies.
She hurriedly told the woman she was five months along and was on her way out to the gate.
But that’s when trouble ensued. Rebecca unwittingly drew attention to herself (probably the guilt).
As the last person to board the plane, all eyes were on her. And the loud noise she made didn’t help.
Soon she was stopped and had to ‘fess up. It hasn’t put her off from trying it again though.
Providing guidelines on how to dupe airport staff, she wrote on travel site Escape: ‘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.’
At that point, staff checked the weight of her carry-on and gave her the go-ahead. Rebecca was almost home free.
‘But as I walked my fake-pregnant ass down the gangway, I dropped my ticket and made a noise,’ she added. ‘So they all looked at me again.
‘As I bent over to pick up the ticket, the shape of my laptop down my back suddenly became apparent.
‘“Excuse me! Is that a backpack you have on under your jacket?”’ they asked her, which she denied.
She then admitted the whole ruse, saying: ‘I should have told her I had on a back brace but … hindsight, hey? I freaked out and blabbed on myself’.
And thus the jig was up and Rebecca had to cough up the $60.
A spokesperson, while entertained by Rebecca’s antics, then issued a statement saying: ‘While we appreciate the creativity, our team [is] pretty wise to all the tricks, and most of our customers find it more comfortable to pay a little bit more for an extra 3 kilos [nearly 7 pounds] of carry-on.’
Probably won’t stop Rebecca though.
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