We’ve all been there — sitting on top of a suitcase at the end of a holiday, trying to squeeze the zip shut on all the new purchases.
Buying souvenirs is part of the travel experience, but airline baggage policies make it difficult to indulge in retail therapy without paying the price for an overweight suitcase.
It means travellers are resorting to extreme hacks to avoid baggage fees, but you don’t have to sweat over concealed items at the gate to take extra luggage home with you.
There’s a simpler solution: packing a suitcase within a suitcase for your outward journey. Hear us out.
A Reddit user calling themselves Either-Number-8116 recently posed a question: ‘This might be a stupid question but are you allowed to check a suitcase with a smaller suitcase inside?
‘I’m going to Europe soon and I plan to do a lot of shopping. [On] my flight there I only get one checked bag but on my flight back I get two free checked bags.
‘I was thinking of packing a small suitcase with my things and putting it into a slightly larger suitcase and checking the larger one, then checking both on the way back’.
In good news for shoppers, packing suitcases inside each other to take on a plane is indeed allowed, provided you don’t exceed the weight allowance.
Reddit users confirmed they’ve used the trick successfully, though one woman warned that security once opened her suitcase to check what was going on.
‘I guess it looked odd on the screen but they didn’t care,’ she wrote.
Others said they pack an empty duffle bag inside in a suitcase for the outward trip. They then fill it with clothes on the return, making extra room in the suitcase for any valuable or fragile souvenirs.
As long as you aren’t carrying a prohibited item, what you choose to pack in your suitcase is up to you.
And when you get to your destination, you can separate your suitcases and fill them with any items you purchase while you’re there.
Items can't you pack in checked baggage
Different airports and airlines will have slightly differing rules around what you can and can’t pack in your hold luggage.
Items that are almost always prohibited from the hold include:
- Flammable liquids and solids
- Oxidisers such as bleaching powders
- Organic peroxides
- Tear gas devices or any gas cylinders
- Infectious substances such as live virus materials
- Wet-cell car batteries
- Magnetrons. Instruments containing mercury
- Instruments containing magnets
- Fireworks and pyrotechnics
- Non-safety matches
- Firelighter, lighter fuel, paints, thinners
- Poisons, arsenic, cyanide, weedkiller
- Radioactive materials, acids, corrosives, alkalis, caustic soda
- Creosote, quicklime, oiled paper
- Vehicle fuel system components which have contained fuel
- Explosives, ammunition, detonators and related equipment
- Smoke canisters and smoke cartridges
This tip saves money on luggage fees because you’ll only have to pay for an extra bag on your way back.
Just make sure to add the extra bag to your return flight — either when you book or at a later dat. Don’t wait until you arrive at the airport, as this may cost you more.
It’s not the only packing hack that could save you money — savvy travellers have been sharing some of their top tips for evading baggage fees.
One popular trick involves taking the stuffing out of a travel pillow and filling it with extra clothes instead, while others have suggested buying a duty-free bag at the airport and putting extra items inside.
Some simply wear as many layers as they can on the flight to free up room in their suitcase.
However, be wary of some viral packing hacks — taking them too far could land you in hot water with airline staff.
In June 2024, a video of a viral packing hack backfiring emerged on TikTok.
It showed a man being escorted away from the gate at Orlando International Airport after he tried to take a pillowcase filled with clothing and other items on board his flight.
Filling a small travel pillow with personal items might let you sneak some extra luggage on board, but filling up a standard pillowcase may sound the alarm to gate agents.
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