With the recent increase of airine baggage fees, a new survey from online travel retailer Lastminute.com has revealed that 3 out of 4 people are now planning to travel much lighter this summer to avoid baggage charges.
In addition, 40% of holiday makers told the site that they find new rules on taking bags onto aircraft confusing, which no surprise considering 20% of travellers also told Lastminute that they had been caught out by stringent baggage regulation in the past and forced to pay a fine.
According to Lastminute.com spokesperson Carey Withney, Irish holidaymakers are finding more and more creative ways to avoid being stung with exorbitant baggage fees:
“Travellers should expect to see more of what we’re calling ‘Layer Players’ – people who travel wearing a lot of their holiday clothes. Also, increasingly noticeable on airlines will be the ‘Poacher Coaters’ who travel wearing large jackets with many pockets. There is now a new purpose built jacket on the market that is designed for travelling on low cost airlines which has over 45 pockets!“
Carey was also kind enough to fill us in on Lastminute’s top tips to evade expensive airline baggage charges:
- Allocate a budget to buy yourself new lightweight luggage; older bags are made of heavy materials, whereas the newer models use more lightweight materials and weigh half that of their older counterparts.
- Use travel bottles for all your toiletries rather than take up valuable space with bulky packaging. Or even better, buy them at your destination instead.
- Whenever there is no size or weight restrictions on hand luggage (some airlines do offer this) pack all heavy items in your carry-on bag. Cameras, books, shoes, medications are ideal to carry with you and to lighten up your hold luggage.
- On the way home, ditch any books that you’ve finished reading and if you’re bringing back bulky souvenirs or large purchases, it will actually work out cheaper to ship them to yourself rather than bulk out your suitcase
- To make the most of your hand luggage, triple the space in your case with vacuum packing bags – these clever bags shrink all your clothes to allow more space for bulkier items.
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