The 'genius' reason why people are now wearing fishing vests on flights

A jet-setter has been hailed a "genius" after sharing a hack to avoid paying extra baggage fees.

In a viral TikTok circulating across the platform, Julie Waters (@dance.likenooneswatching) sported a fishing vest as part of her airport outfit filled with extra items to see whether she could successfully board the flight.

The savvy traveller claimed to have packed a week's worth of clothes in the vest while flying with Spirit Airlines.

"No one batted an eye, but a friend did make a comment that someone could have thought you were some kind of crazy Unabomber-type person so that would be the biggest downside," she told the Wall Street Journal.

"What I really want to try is the pillowcase one, where instead of a pillow it’s full of clothes."

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The concept was also explored by fellow TikToker, @cheapholidayexpert, who also took to the platform with her packing hack.

She managed to pack everything from a bikini, a deck of cards to a portable speaker, a laptop and deodorant.

“After stuffing my pants in a neck pillow and using a duty-free bag, it was only time before I reached the heady heights of leisurewear,” Cheap Holiday Expert jokes in the video’s caption.

The clip racked up almost two million views and hundreds more comments.

"This and cargo pants?? life changing," one fellow TikToker commented, while another added: "I spent so long looking for a travel jacket with tonnes of pockets I don’t know why I never thought of this!"

A third person asked what happens when she went through security, to which she replied: "You always take your jacket off at security! And they’re not checking allowance, just liquids and illegal items."

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.