Passengers flying with the likes of Ryanair, easyJet, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways may want to take note of a clever hack that can help your bag be one of the first on the carousel
Anyone will know that once you’ve navigated airport security, check-in, and a flight, the wait at the baggage carousel after landing at a destination can feel agonisingly slow.
There’s always that little voice in the back of your mind asking if your bag made it at all, and it can be annoying to stand around for ages waiting for your case to finally appear on the carousel.
However, there’s one easy trick that means your suitcase could be one of the first taken off the plane – and it won’t cost you an extra penny.
Hadleigh Diamond, Commercial Director at SCS Chauffeurs, revealed that a lot of the company’s clients use the same hack to get out of the airport as efficiently as possible.
He explained: Clients regularly tell us that the difference between a good travel day and a stressful one often starts with baggage reclaim. If you’re standing waiting for 30 minutes while the carousel clunks out someone else’s bags, your trip can feel so much longer. But the fragile sticker trick is a game-changer — and it often works.
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“We’ve heard this tip from both airport ground staff and frequent flyers. You don’t need to lie or explain — just politely ask the check-in agent to add a ‘fragile’ sticker to your suitcase. It’s not guaranteed, but more often than not, your bag is among the first out. We’ve seen it work time and time again.”
The reason it works is that airport ground handlers will typically load ‘fragile’ items last into the aircraft’s hold to avoid them getting crushed, and then these get removed first on the other side to avoid sitting under heavy loads. Of course it won’t save you hours of time, but those 20 minutes it might save you could just mean a bit of extra pool time (or getting to your hotel early enough to be one of the first at the buffet!).
For those who are on a tight schedule, it’s worth looking at hand luggage only fares. Airlines will let you bring at least one bag for free, but check the measurements as these differ per airline. For example Ryanair lets you bring one free bag but it must measure no more than (40 x 20 x 25 cm) and fit under the seat. easyJet has a similar policy in which your carry-on bag—including the handle and wheels—must not exceed 56 x 25 x 45 cm. If you want to bring a bigger bag or a second bag, you’ll need to pay extra.
In recent years, plenty of people have tried to cheat the system. For example, one passenger was hailed as a ‘genius’ after discovering a clever packing hack that meant he could fit 20kg of stuff into his hand luggage, without needing to pay for any extra bags on his Ryanair flight. Others have tried antics such as wearing all of their clothes in one go, or stuffing clothes into a pillowcase to pass it off as a pillow and therefore not technically a bag.
Still, airline staff are wise to these tricks (they’ve seen it all before), so although you may get lucky if they turn a blind eye, if you get caught out you could end up paying some hefty on-the-spot charges, which might be more than it would have cost you to add a second bag in the first place.