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.