Why TikTokers are taking pillowcases on flights

Portrait of shocked terrified girl see nightmare embrace her soft pillow look, copyspace wear pajama eye mask isolated over bright shine color background

For those desperate to get travelling again, there is a sense of excitement and nostalgia for even the most mundane aspects of preparing for a trip.

However, it is hard to forget the frustration of adhering to airline luggage weight limits.

Who could miss the heart-stopping anxiety of waiting to have your bag weighed only to find you’re 1kg over and face the prospect of extra baggage allowance fees eating into your holiday savings?

As with almost everything these days, TikTok reckons it has an answer.

The “pillow hack” is one of the most searched travel trends on TikTok right now, according to Stylist UK.

One particular video posted by a user named Anya Lakovlieva (@nolimitua) has amassed 24.9 million views so far, and almost 10 thousand comments.

Why do TikTok users want you to travel with a pillowcase?

In her video, Lakovlieva is seen packing clothing into a presumably empty pillowcase before placing it on top of her suitcase as she walks through an airport.

In the last shot, Lakovlieva is sitting on board her flight holding the pillow on her lap.

@nolimitua #travelhack #travelhacks #pillowtransformation #lifehack #travellight #noonesgonnaknow #traveltips #travellife #traveltip ♬ how would they know bad girls club – Chris Gleason

“The best travel hack ever!!!! “Pillow” flies for free,” she wrote on the post.

Whether this hack will work, however, depends on your airline. In the video, an American passport is seen pictured next to Lakovlieva’s suitcase, but when she posted the same video to Instagram, her location said she was in Turkey, which suggests she was on an international flight.

In the US, TSA allows pillows to be brought on flights, however, different airlines have different rules when it comes to classifying pillows the size of Lakovlieva’s as either part of carry-on allowance or as “personal attire”.

Another TikTocker with the username @anayoyothe posted a video of the hack using a neck pillow instead of the kind you would use in your bed like Lakovlieva’s, which would be much more likely to work across more airlines.

“Trying the Spirit and Frontier pillow hack cuz I ain’t tryna pay $60 for carry on,” @anayoyothe said in the first shot of the video.

She demonstrates by unzipping the case on her neck pillow, removing the stuffing and taking the clothing that wouldn’t fit out of a packing cube.

“I’m going to Vegas so ya girl needs options,” she said.

“These are my mesh tops and dresses so they’re lightweight.”

@anayotothe My flight is in 3 hours let’s see how this goes! #travelhacks #budgettravel #travelpillow #blackgirltravel #blacktravelfeed ♬ original sound – Ayo!

She holds up the somewhat lumpier neck pillow once her clothes are safely inside.

In another video, she confirms the hack worked.

“I don’t know if the airport I flew out of is just more lenient but on the way to Vegas and the way back I didn’t have to pay,” she said.

She also responded to commenters who said the hack was too much effort by revealing that it only took her five minutes and a $9 travel pillow to pull off.

Featured image: iStock/Deagreez

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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