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It’s the mother of all tripping tricks.
Flying with a belly full of baby is no joke — but traveling with a faux gut made out of a makeup bag? That’s a real gag.
That’s how genius globetrotter Grace Hale avoided paying extra luggage upcharges on a recent Ryanair flight from England to Scotland. She tucked her cosmetics kit and a few jackets under an overcoat to create a passable pregnancy paunch.
“It was so funny,” Hale, 20, of Dallas, Texas, told What’s The Jam. “I Googled what pregnancy bumps looked like at different months and how far along I’d be.”
“I decided on 26 weeks,” continued the blonde, who shared visuals of her mommy-to-be stunt to over 1.2 million TikTok viewers. “[I was] so lucky because at 28 weeks you need a doctor’s note.”
And the Gen Z’s cost-cutting con was, apparently, just what the doctor ordered — amid controversy surrounding extra fees to fly.
Sky high surcharges have plagued budget-conscious flyers for years — and it’s only getting worse, with several major airlines announcing updated carry-on policies and increased luggage fees at the start of the year.
Commercial cloud cruisers, such as Air Canada, vowed to charge basic-economy passengers $25 for their first piece of carry-on bag — which includes roller bags and oversized rucksacks — and an additional $36 for a second.
Southwest Airlines, once beloved for its free bag check policy, nixed its no-charge perk in March. Customers, except for jet-setters with Southwest-approved “A-List” status, will have to pay to check their bags starting May 28.
Ryanair clients with penchants for overpacking, such as Hale, can expect to pay between $50 to $80 for their extra suitcases — or personal effects, like a water bottle — depending on ticketing, as well as the size and weight of the loot.
For Hale, forking over more dough for her must-haves was simply out of the question.
“It’s ridiculously expensive if you want to take a bag on a Ryanair flight,” she told The Jam, “I like to take ten options for a three-day trip.”
But when her sack full of swag proved to be too much for her bag, Hale had no choice but to get creative — by getting knocked up (kinda).
“We were running late and the flight was so early,” she said. “I was scrambling and packing on the train to the airport, then I realized that the jackets and makeup bag weren’t going to fit. “
“I thought I’d act like I was pregnant,” she chimed. “What would they say?.”
However, pretending that she was expecting was a bit more difficult than Hale had expected.
“I practiced on the train station by putting the makeup bag under my top, and I wrapped the jackets around it so nothing could fall out because that would be embarrassing,” the trickster confessed.
Luckily for Hale, the pregnancy practice made perfect.
She successfully carted the phony fetus from London to Edinburgh — sans unexpected turbulence from airline staffers.
But the money-conscious fake mama isn’t the only passenger who’s had to hide their goodies for a cheap flight.
One traveler went so far as to stuff her extra stuff in her pants — giving herself a makeshift Brazilian Butt Lift, or BBL, before liftoff.
Others swear by a $288 contraband-carrying coat that can allegedly hold a week’s worth of clothes, manufactured by Wear to Fly — the on-the-go gear features 14 interior pockets.
“Ryanair hates this jacket,” declared the designers in a recent social media post.
However, for those who can’t afford a nearly $300 carryall, Hale says her bun-in-the-oven hack works like a charm.
“There are going to be a lot of pregnant Ryanair passengers,” she teased. “It’s so expensive to take a bag with you.”
