Is there anything better than flying to a far-flung place without breaking the bank?

Budget airlines offer us the chance to fly to hundreds of destinations for really low prices, and when the cost of living seems to be ever-increasing, it’s a great way for you to still be able to go on holiday without playing catch up for months to come.

However, budget airlines sometimes enforce additional fees, and they can be sky-high. For example, if you want checked-in luggage, it can sometimes add over £100 to a return trip, which can be frustrating and has led many people to try and cram as much stuff in their carry-on.

TikToker @vetted.ai took to the social media platform to caption their video: “Do not pay for the oversized luggage fees nonsense — do this instead! This hack came in handy on our way back from Mexico!”

She explained that the person at the airport may ask you to pay the fee, or “take some things out of your luggage,” which obviously you do not want to do, as you need everything you have packed.

She shared that if you “have a pillowcase,” then that means you’re all good because “pillows fly for free”. So what exactly should you do with your pillowcase if you were in this situation with overweight luggage?

You should pop the softest things in your luggage into the pillowcase to stuff it so it’s comfortable for you to rest your head on. “I’ll go ahead and put my extra clothes, and my hoodie and my sweatpants into this pillowcase and that eliminates the extra weight,” she boasted.

It’s worth noting that this hack will only work on certain airlines. As per Mattress Clarity: “While some airlines allow you to bring a pillow on the plane free of charge, others charge a fee for this additional luggage add-on.”

Someone said that this “only works in the US,” but other people have found a sneaky way to do a similar thing. On Reddit, someone was asking about the pillow case hack, asking whether it “still worked”.

One responder said it was better to try this instead, as it seemed foolproof. They wrote: “Put it in a shopping bag – they won’t check it. I just did that yesterday cause I had a personal bag with me which isn’t allowed so I put it in a shopping bag since I purchased something in the aiport and just asked for their biggest bag”.

Someone replied: “This sounds like a good idea, and also less risky”. Another shared a story of when they were “preparing to pay £50” because they had a crossbody bag that wouldn’t fit into their rucksack when a kind stranger helped them out. “She surreptitiously stuffed my handbag into her half-empty duty-free bag after I took out my passport, wallet and phone – which I held in my hand. (The boarding gate people were too busy to notice). I went back and told the original boarding pass checker I had combined the two as requested (actually, she didn’t seem that bothered – as if she had forgotten). The kind fellow passenger then handed my shoulder bag back to me as we were queuing to board,” she shared.

Have you ever tried either of these hacks? Let us know in the comments…