Growing anxiety over digital theft is fuelling the latest travel hack doing the rounds on social media: wrapping your biometric passport in kitchen foil to prevent hackers skimming their personal data.
It may look ridiculous, but there is some science behind it – aluminium foil can indeed shield radio-frequency communication. But even assuming hackers with high-tech handheld readers are sweeping our airports, they could only theoretically connect with RFID chips at extremely close range, and only then when a passport is open at the ID page. Even then, they wouldn’t be able to actually read the chip, because the data is highly encrypted.
In reality, wrapping your passport up like a sandwich is only going to cause longer queues as passengers unwrap and rewrap at security inspection points, slowing down transit and potentially damaging your passport, and leaving airports looking like Five Guys after a kids’ party.
Sadly this is far from the only – or, indeed, most foolish – viral supposed travel trick to have caught the imaginations of easily-led social-media users. Rather, it’s the latest in an endless list of supposed “hacks” that afford so-called influencers plenty of traction, but which are actually completely pointless. Here are some of the other worst offenders.
The Pillowcase Hack
The hack: First came the ingenious “Flight Fillow”, a neck-pillow sleeve designed to be stuffed with a jumper for sleeping in transit. Then a thousand content creators took to using them as free “secret” excess hand luggage, and inevitably, the whole stuffable travel pillow fad got totally out of hand, to the point where some passengers are now using standard pillowcases as alternatives to paying for bags at all.
The reality: Don’t underestimate the jobsworths at the gate who are incentivised to collar (and charge) excess baggage smugglers – if it’s just a sack of your stuff, they can make you check it in.
Poor Man’s Premium Economy
The hack: When couples book the window and aisle seats in a row of three, in the hope that nobody else will book the middle one and they’ll get more space.
The reality: Two decades ago this gamble probably paid off. Today, carriers are wise to it; some, such as TUI, no longer accept a couple booking the window and aisle seats. And as airlines tend to overbook flights, particularly on the budget routes to Europe which we use most often, it’s likely they will sell the middle seat, and you’ll end up not actually sitting together. Then again, this may turn out to be a bonus, depending how much you’ve bickered on the way to the gate.
Complimentary Hotel Laundry Hack
The hack: Run out of clean pants on holiday? Why shell out on laundry service when you can pop your knickers in the hotel-room coffee machine and run a brew cycle to wash them, absolutely free? When wellness influencer Tara Woodcox (who goes by on TikTok) posted this “tip” on social media, it went viral – probably not the only thing to do so, as bacteria can get stuck in the machine for the next unsuspecting guest.
The reality: Apart from being unspeakably gross, it doesn’t work – clothes need detergent and consistently high temperatures to remove bodily excretions. You’re better off using the hot tap on the bath like any other normal human being. Or, you know, just buy (or pack) some clean pants.
Free Mile-High Spending Spree
The hack: “POV: Lock your card and purchase awayyyyyyy on a flight *no money needed” advises @_hustleovereverythingXO, who claims airlines can’t validate payment offline, meaning cards don’t get charged until after you land – and if your card is locked, you won’t get charged at all.
The reality: Not so much a hack as a scam, this one, as it’s legally considered credit card fraud, and airlines may match transaction attempts back to your passenger details and send you a bill – or, if you’ve really gone to town on the duty-free, arrest you, as was the fate which befell Wythenshawe’s “Fraud of the Skies”, who stole more than £25,000 worth of sunglasses and perfume.
Wearing a Suit To Get a Free Upgrade
The hack: Now and then some #blessed traveller achieves that mythical holy grail of air travel: the free upgrade. And yes, maybe they are wearing a suit when it happens. But rest assured, it’s usually far less about the suit than their George Clooney levels of charisma and platinum flyer club card with a gazillion air miles.
The reality: The gatekeepers who bestow these elusive free upgrades on the chosen few will see straight through your shabby old suit for the economy-class chancer you are, so save yourself the indignity of refusal and the discomfort of spending several cramped, sweaty hours in an outfit entirely ill-suited to flying.
DIY Airport Espresso Martini Hack
The hack: The recipe that’s gone viral: BYOB vodka, Kahlua, and Baileys miniatures (under 100ml, obvs) and empty the lot into an airport Starbucks iced double espresso in a massive cup – enough to keep you going in the air for a few hours at least. The more audacious are even making them on board.
The reality: Bringing your own alcohol onto a plane is banned, and flight attendants are urged to be super vigilant, with airlines issuing fines of up to £5,000 – and even more for drunk and disorderly passengers who force a flight to divert; last year, Ryanair sued a passenger €15,000 for disruption, and has even banned taking duty-free on board certain routes (though the airline does still allow you to purchase alcohol on board, naturally).
The Duty Free Carry-On
The hack: We’ve all questioned it – why we are forced to jettison liquids and glass before security, but it’s fine to clank onto the plane with several litres of Smirnoff so long as it’s in a duty-free bag? Smart thinking from @sianitravels and @faithinfashion then, who buy massive carrier bags from Boots and WH Smiths, which they fill with overflow items to avoid paying for extra hand luggage.
The reality: They may appear to get away with it time after time, but most travellers aren’t so lucky. Airline staff are cracking down on the duty-free hack, and if you haven’t got a receipt for it, they can make you check it in, and pay for the privilege.
DIY Velcro Baby Seat
The hack: Instagram “momfluencer” Lisa Flom caused a stir with her “innovative” parenting hack: Velcroing her baby to the seat on a plane to avoid troublesome wriggling.
The reality: While Flom’s baby admittedly couldn’t look happier, child psychologists advise strongly against the practice, asserting that it’s more likely to send kids into a full-on meltdown than stop them from squirming. Regardless, in the UK and Europe, babies under two are required to be buckled in on your lap with an infant loop belt.
Freezing liquids to get them through security
The hack: In the USA, you can freeze water to take it through security, claims @nomaticgear – thus avoiding shelling out for mineral water airside, or spending your precious time searching for a drinking fountain to fill up your empty reusable one.
The reality: In the UK, a frozen liquid still counts as a liquid, so if it’s more than 100ml, it’s not getting past airport security – unless you’re flying from one of the UK airports where you can now take two litres of liquids through security (Belfast International, Belfast City, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Heathrow).
Flying Naked(-ish) with the Suitcase Hoodie
The hack: It’s not what you think – viral travel hack “flying naked” is when passengers take zero luggage on flights. This was tricky to achieve (without the use of a cargo vest) – until opportunistic retailers stepped in with the Suitcase Hoodie. Aimed squarely at travellers trying to dodge airline baggage fees, the items feature built-in backpacks or massive secret storage compartments big enough to stash shoes, iPads, your Stanley cup and everything else you need for a holiday.
The reality: Airline staff are increasingly on the lookout for this kind of unreasonable baggage smuggling; and anyway, is the discomfort really worth it? If you’re not checking it in, says flight attendant Drew Henderson in his podcast Two Guys on a Plane, “you have to sit in it”.
Charging things to someone else’s hotel room
The hack: Ross from Friends’ “hotel hack” may have drawn a fine line between stealing and “taking what the hotel owes you” – but a raft of opportunistic influencers are now taking things a step further by routinely charging drinks, food and other extras to a random room number which is not their own.
The reality: This one is definitely just stealing. This week, a man in a Florida hotel allegedly ran up a $2,400 bill on someone else’s room tab, and was arrested for grand theft, facing up to five years in prison. Don’t do this.
Skiplagging
The hack: A hack so prolific it has its own search engine, “skiplagging” is the practice of booking a multi-leg flight and then skipping off after the first leg at the layover airport, instead of flying onto your booked destination. The idea is that it saves money – and, though it seems counterintuitive that it would be cheaper to fly further, sometimes it is. For example, a multi-leg flight from Heathrow to Goa via Delhi with Air India costs as little as £409 in October. If you book the same flight – literally same plane, same day, same time – from Heathrow to Delhi, without the extra leg to Goa, the cost rises to more than £720. So why not just book the cheaper flight to Goa, then hop off at Delhi with an extra 40,000 rupees to blow on saffron and pashminas?
The reality: The skip-lag hack only works on the way out: the problem comes when you need to get home again. If you don’t board your plane at the origin airport on your ticket – in this case, Goa – you can’t just breeze through departures at your layover destination. What’s more, certain airlines will not only cancel customers’ return tickets if they don’t show up for a booked outbound flight, they may also ban you for life. The lesson? Much like casinos, when it comes to airlines, the house always wins.