Budget airlines like Frontier and Spirit sell you a $29 ticket and then spend the rest of the transaction trying to claw it back in fees. The biggest one is the bag fee, and a single bag can cost more than your flight. Here is how to fly them without paying it, up to and including the nuclear option I demonstrate in the video below: wearing my entire wardrobe onto the plane.

The bag fee is the actual price #

Budget airlines make their money on fees, not fares. The cheap ticket is bait. On Frontier or Spirit, a carry-on or a checked bag can run $30 to $60 or more each way, often more than the seat itself. So the entire game of flying budget cheaply is one thing: do not pay the bag fee.

The core move: personal item only #

The one bag that is always free is the personal item, the one that fits under the seat in front of you.

• Learn the exact sizer dimensions for your airline and buy a bag that maxes them out. A backpack built right up to the limit swallows a shocking amount of stuff.
• Pack light and pack smart. Roll your clothes, use compression or packing cubes, and be honest about what you actually need for a few days.
• For most short trips, a maxed-out personal item is genuinely all you need. No carry-on, no checked bag, no fee.

Wear your luggage (yes, really) #

Here is the loophole the video takes to its logical extreme: anything you wear is not a bag. So wear your heaviest stuff instead of packing it.

• Put on your bulkiest jacket, your boots, and a couple of layers before you board.
• Jackets with big pockets are free carry-on. Stuff them with the heavy little things: chargers, battery packs, socks, whatever.
• Cargo pants exist for a reason.

In the video I take this all the way and pile on something like twenty layers to get on a Frontier flight. It is a bit, obviously. But the principle underneath the joke is completely real: a worn jacket is free luggage, and budget airlines do not weigh you.

Never pay at the gate #

If you truly need a bag, the price is not fixed, it climbs the closer you get to the plane.

• Buy it online during booking. That is the cheapest a bag will ever be.
• The airport counter is more. The gate is the most. Showing up with a bag you have not paid for is how you get hit with the top-tier fee.
• Never, ever wing it at the gate on a budget airline. That is exactly the mistake their pricing is designed to catch.

A few more tricks #

• Bag bundles. If you know you will have bags, the “bundle” or “the works” fare is sometimes cheaper than paying for each fee separately. Do the math.
• Airline credit cards sometimes include a free checked bag. Worth it only if the free bag beats the annual fee for how much you actually fly.
• Weigh your bag at home so an overweight surprise does not undo all your savings.

The math #

A $39 fare plus a $50 bag each way is a $139 trip. The same fare with a personal item only is $39. Pull that off a few times a year and it is real money, which is the whole point. On a budget airline the fare is never the price. The fees are. Beat the bag fee and these airlines are actually cheap.

Getting to the airport for $2.05 instead of a $60 Uber is the natural next move. More of the same over in Frugal SF.