Desperation breeds creativity—especially at the airport. A Washington, D.C. woman on TikTok is going viral after confessing that she was running so late for her flight, she decided to fake total travel incompetence. Instead of checking her bag, she lugged it all the way to the gate and said she “didn’t know how” to check luggage. The wild part? They believed her.
In her words: “Sorry to the flight attendants, but it worked.”
A New Airport Hack?
The usual tip for travelers is to weigh your bag at home, but Kaley seems to have cracked the code completely. Her new trick has already gained 103,000 views on TikTok. Standing in line and waiting to check in a bag can easily take anywhere from 15 minutes to 40. However, this is your worst nightmare when you’re already running late. Even if you checked in online, baggage drop can take just as long.
Kaley knew this and chose to problem-solve it in a new, ingenious way. Her nine-second clip shows her already in the plane as the text overlay reads: “Almost missed my flight so badly I pretended I didn’t know how to check a bag at the gate #itworked.” Was it unethical because she lied? Maybe, but it got her on her flight.
Unethical life hacks
On the topic of unethical hacks, a Reddit post on the popular subreddit r/UnethicalLifeProTips, a post went viral when asking about unethical hacks for the airport. One Redditor says, “If you’re traveling on an airline that does not have assigned seats, a barf bag in your lap will almost always guarantee an empty middle seat.”
Another one says, “Buy a super cheap rolling duffel bag online for $35. Work out some of the stitching around the fabric handles and cinch-straps so that they are super easy to rip off. Once your bag arrives with the straps ripped off and hanging by a thread – complain to the airline that they damaged your $200 duffel. I’ve gotten voucher compensation several times between $100 – $150.”
One Redditor even had a similar idea to Kaley, but on extra fees for overweight checked baggage. They say, “Never pay for a too heavy bag or extra checked bags. Just skip the check in counter and when you arrive at your gate, offer to gate check it. Security doesn’t care how many bags you bring through and the person at the gate won’t weigh them there.”
Viewers Are Confused
Some viewers of Kaley’s TikTok were confused as to how this scenario was pulled off successfully. A viewer comments, “Normalise explaining,” to which Kaley answers, “Instead of checking my bag before security I went to the gate with it to save time.” The person responds, “Smart but how did security let you go through with your bag?” and Kaley shares, “It somehow fit through the security screening.” It really was that easy.
Another viewer sympathizes with Kaley and says, “The smallest inconvenience makes me think my plane has already taken off.” Kaley replied, “No bc the app was making me think the plane took off without me they are liars.”
Lastly, a gate agent chimes in on the discussion and shares some insight. “As a gate agent this will technically work but for other ppl wanting to try this: if its too big of a bag they might send you back out to the ticket counter bc its a safety risk. the rampers have to carry gate checked bags down the stairs a lot of the time!”
@kaley.landis sorry to the flight attendants #airport #travel #fypシ ♬ original sound – ArchiveAmhara
The Mary Sue reached out to Kaley via email.
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