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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Talia Shadwell

Man's suitcase was overweight at airport so he decided to wear 15 shirts instead

Most of us are all too familiar with that sinking feeling when your suitcase tips the scales at the airport.

Flights are expensive enough without having to cough up for heavy excess baggage fees.

So it's no surprise one Scotsman who found himself with an overweight suitcase at the check-in desk was not prepared to pay any extra fees on his flight from France to Edinburgh.

John Irvine opened his bag in front of amused EasyJet staff at Nice Airport and began layering on his clothing.

His son Josh told the Mirror: "We spent too much on our holiday anyway so he didn't want to spend anymore."

No excess baggage fees for this man (twitter/@joshirvine7)
John Irvine managed to pile on about 15 layers as airline staff laughed (twitter/@joshirvine7)

The 46-year-old Glaswegian roofer had been on holiday in the Mediterranean beauty-spot with his wife and son.

France is still baking in the aftermath of Europe's sweltering heatwave, so John arrived at the airport for his flight back to Edinburgh on Friday night wearing just a t-shirt.

But, according to, Josh, 17, his dad had done a spot of shopping on holiday and was soon to find his check-in luggage was overweight.

John was not prepared to pay EasyJet's excess baggage fee, so opened his suitcase and began layering on every top in his bag.

Josh was in stitches as he filmed on Snapchat while his dad whipped on about 15 extra layers so he could avoid the airline's fee.

Josh's post quickly went viral on Twitter . He captioned the first clip: "Suitcase is too heavy so ma da's just putting all the clothes on."

The next clip showed his dad piling on layer after layer.

"About 13 t-shirts down the line," Josh said, adding his dad was "sweating".

Josh's dad was 'sweating' as he piled on layer after layer (twitter/@joshirvine7)

Josh told the Mirror his dad is a bit of a "comedian" and was making the airline staff laugh.

"He'll try anything."

Josh admitted some of his own clothes were in his dad's suitcase, but he was too entertained by his dad's spectacle to offer to layer up himself.

"I was too busy recording him."

Once his dad had successfully lightened up his suitcase, the family moved on to security where his unusually bulky appearance made the Nice Airport staff slightly suspicious, Josh said.

The Scottish dad was 'roasting' by this point (twitter/@joshirvine7)

"They told him to take off some tops, and he kept taking them off because they were wondering what he was hiding."

When they were satisfied he had nothing to hide they told him he could stop taking off layers, and let him carry on his way with his armful of shirts, which he took onto the plane in a pile.

John was surprised when he told him his antics had gone viral, Josh said.

"I showed him and he was a bit mortified to begin with but he saw the funny side, eventually - he laughed it off."

 
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