Australian traveller reveals their simple trick for avoiding excess-baggage fees
An Australian traveler has shared his clever trick to avoid extra charges for overweight carry-on luggage when flying with Jetstar.
If you take more than 7kg of carry-on luggage on a domestic Jetstar flight, the airline will charge $55 for the first 15kg you exceed. For international flights it is $80.
To enforce the rule, Jetstar usually weighs passengers’ suitcases just before boarding.
But a frequent flyer has revealed one simple thing Australians can do to avoid these ‘excessive costs’.
‘I’ve been on at least a hundred Jetstar flights. Using this method, I have had my bag weighed zero times,” they further said Reddit.
The traveler’s advice was to try to be one of the last people to board the plane.
‘They put the weighing machine away when the last people boarded. Your luggage will not be weighed,” the frequent flyer said.
“Your seat will still be there when you board.”
A lesser-known travel hack has been revealed to avoid astronomical baggage fees for carry-on bags at the airport (Photo: Airline staff weighing passengers’ bags)
They said there was nothing wrong with going to another gate while other passengers’ bags were being weighed by airline staff.
“There’s nothing illegal about sitting in the fence next to yours so you can watch them remove the scales,” they said.
Other Aussies shared their own hacks to avoid baggage fees.
‘Always take a large jacket with many pockets. Anything over the weight limit can be put in the bags,” one person said.
“My laptop is usually the heaviest item in my backpack, so I have a jacket folded in my arms and the laptop conveniently slipped in,” says a second.
The traveler’s first tip was to always be one of the last people to board (stock image)
Other Aussies shared their own hacks to avoid baggage fees
A third wrote: ‘Give all your heavy items to someone (if you’re traveling together), and after weighing and marking them, put them all back in.’
‘Or in bags, or on the ground until it is weighed.’
One Australian suggested that people check the weight of luggage themselves: ‘My hand luggage rarely weighs more than 5kg because I use a lightweight backpack.’
They said many travelers underestimate how heavy some luggage can be, especially canvas bags with wheels.
‘My older canvas weighed a hefty 3.8 kg empty. Thick padded backpacks are the same,” they said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Jetstar for comment.