Travel Hacks
That may or may not work…or be legal
I’ve mentioned a few of these before, but I thought I’d revisit the topic of travel hacks since I recently read a news story about someone being refused boarding because of a travel hack.
1) One travel hack that does work is to text your airline and flight number to someone, especially of they are picking you up at the airport.
Example: If I’m on Air Canada 8270, I would text AC8270 to Barb. When she gets the text if she long presses on the text, a pop up menu will appear with the option to preview the flight. Choosing that option gives real time information on the flight, such as departing and arrival time, whether it is on time, and where to collect the baggage.
2) A travel hack that often doesn’t work is to take a pillow and put extra clothes in it and try to bring it on board with your carry-on. This is a hack to avoid paying luggage costs. The idea comes about because airlines rarely care if you bring a pillow on board with you, especially for a long haul flight. You have to hope that the gate crew will be too busy checking people in to notice your pillow is actually being used as another carry on. A man in the U.S. recently tried this and was caught at the gate. He was told he would have to pay for a second carry on and refused. He initially refused to pay extra and by the time he agreed to pay for the pillow, the gate had closed and boarding was over. He was so angry police had to be called to escort him out of the airport.
3) If you are flying to Europe and are flexible with your dates you can save money by flying to a European city with cheaper airfares, and then connecting with a European carrier to your final destination. Using Google flights, I found the cheapest fare from Vancouver to Paris during the 2024 Olympic games was $2831 return. I then changed my search to Vancouver to all of Europe and found a fare to Edinburg for $2000. A further search showed the return fare from Edinburgh to Paris was $124, so if I was willing to break up my flight I could save $700. However, this cheap fare was from Ryanair who charge $63 for carryon luggage and $75 for checked luggage, so your savings might not be as much as you thought.
This system would work well for someone who was traveling light or didn’t mind a really long travel day.
4) You might occasionally see ads on social media for discount first class and business class seats. These companies offer cheap seats if you book with them. It’s both not a scam and is a scam. Here’s the way it works.
The companies offering these deals buy frequent flyer points from people or companies who would prefer the cash rather than the points. They then book the ticket for you using the points they purchased. Most frequent flier programs allow the member to book a flight for someone else using the members points but almost all of them prohibit selling, or even giving the points to another person. The points purchased by the cheap seat companies aren’t actually valid, and if the airline finds out they can cancel the ticket for violating the terms of service. If this happens when you are part way through your trip, you will likely have to pay for the rest of the trip yourself.
5) Skiplagging is another allowed/not allowed way to fly. Skiplagging is where a person wants to go from city A to city B. However, it is cheaper to buy a ticket for a flight from city A to city C with a stop in city B. So they buy the longer route but get off in city B, not taking the rest of the flight. Why is it sometimes cheaper to take a flight with a stopover rather than a direct flight? Passengers prefer direct flights but these usually sellout quickly on popular routes. In that case, the airline may offer a deal on a connecting itinerary to prevent customers from flying with a competitor. A personal example is that sometimes it is cheaper for me to fly from Kelowna to Calgary via Vancouver, rather than flying direct. Courts in Europe have ruled that skiplagging is not illegal, but it is against the terms and conditions listed when you buy an airline ticket and the airline my charge you extra if they catch you (as Air France does) or they could take away frequent flier points or status, or even ban you from the airline (as has happened in the U.S.)
6) Another travel hack that doesn’t work is dressing nicely to get an upgrade. This isn’t the 1950s or 60s, gate agents don’t really care how you are dressed and there are very few flights nowadays where there are seats available to upgrade.
7) Finally, a travel hack that is making the rounds right now is to roll up your clothes then pack them. Several websites have tested this idea and have found that rolling lighter clothes but folding bulkier items (like sweaters) does seem to save space, however, the best tip for saving space and being able to fit more into your suitcase, is packing cubes or vacuum sealed storage bags.
In a future blog, surviving long haul flights without resorting to business class.
Ta.