A woman travelling on a Thomas Cook flight managed to swerve a £65 baggage charge by simply wearing all of her excess luggage - all 4kg of it. Natalie Wynn, 30, was travelling to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands from Manchester when she was stopped by a security officer, who weighed her 9.4kg case and told her it was too heavy to take on board, as the limit was 6kg per passenger.
But, not to be defeated, mum-of-five Natalie decided she could shave the required weight off her baggage by simply wearing a few kilograms herself. Channelling her inner Joey Tribbiani, administrative officer Natalie says she donned seven dresses, two pairs of shows (a feat in itself), two pairs of shorts, a skirt and a cardigan. Some people apparently saw the funny side, too, and even offered to pack some of her clothes into their cases when they spotted her plight. While Natalie says she was 'boiling' as she boarded, it didn't faze her too much. Thankfully a steward also told her she could take off the excess clothes once on the plane, before returning it to her suitcase. Natalie, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, said: "I was boiling, absolutely boiling. I still had plenty in my case but I put near enough half of what I've put on."I put on four dresses, two pairs of shorts, I tied a dress around my neck, put a skirt on, I shoved two dresses down the dresses I had on, and two pairs of shoes as well, and a cardigan."It definitely worked. Normally I check the weight of the baggage but I did the online check in for me and my friend, but we got to the counter and they just stopped me."It was nearly 4kg over, but they wanted to charge us £65 each just to get it on the plane."Because I had booked an all-inclusive holiday so was getting all my food and drink, I didn't plan on bringing much money with me."I think I only had about £60 in my account just to bring with me on holiday."I didn't want to be using the little amount I had just so I could get my bag on the plane. I literally said, 'I'm not paying it', and started putting my clothes on."There were people around us cheering us on because after I did it my friend decided she would do it too because her baggage was also overweight. We were definitely a sight walking on to the plane."A few people offered to put our clothes in their cases, but [Thomas Cook] got told they couldn't do that."The only person that didn't look happy about it was the woman at the security boarding desk. I was still allowed to get on the plane."I felt like I was going to pass out because it was so warm. As soon as I got on the plane, I took it all off and put it back in my case."That was funny as well because people were laughing because I'd just started taking off all my clothes in the middle of the plane."The Thomas Cook guidelines state adults are allowed to bring one piece of hand baggage onto the flight free of charge, which must weigh up to 6kg. Natalie added: "Saving £65 definitely put me in a good mood for the holiday. Everyone's reaction to it being done put me in a good mood as well."I was worried I would get a negative reaction to it - people saying it was my own fault, but not one person said anything even at the airport. It set up a good start to the holiday anyway."Even Thomas Cook praised Natalie for her idea, making a reference to that particular episode of Friends. A spokeswoman for Thomas Cook Airlines said: "Natalie's ingenuity here is noted!"The good news for Natalie and the rest of our customers is that later this month we are increasing our hand baggage allowance to 8kg.