Tips for Flying with Only One Personal Item Bag

The cheap air travel season is on now with some of the lowest priced flights falling in the weeks between mi November and up to a few days before Christmas. Low-fare airlines like Spirit and Frontier offer some of the lowest flight prices between many airports and the cheapest of these flights come with one major restriction for passengers – traveling with a personal item only that fits under the seat ahead of yours on the plane.

A personal item is included in the cheapest flight price on Spirit Frontier, and other low-fare carriers. So you don’t have to pay extra as long as you don’t bring an additional bag – either a carry-on (that fits in the over-head compartment on the plane) or a checked bag (that you drop off at the check-in counter for the airline to carry for you). The size of the personal item is 18″ x 14″ x 8″ – it can be a small backpack or a duffle bag, purse etc.

These days some airlines may actually ask to verify that your personal item is small enough to fit in the measurer that the airline has placed by every flight gate. If the airline staff suspects that you may be carrying a bag that exceeds the size of the personal item, they may ask you to put your bag inside the measurer to see if it fits. They’ll watch and if the bag doesn’t easily fit in the frame, you won’t be allowed to carry it on the plane without paying an extra nearly $100 to make it eligible for a carry-on status – to fit in the overhead compartment. So what do you do to get the cheap flight without paying extra for a bag while carrying the stuff you need for your trip? Here are some tips to make it happen.

1. Choose a bag made of soft and flexible material, like cloth or fabric. You can do more with a duffle or rectangular bag than a backpack or a large gift bag. The rectangular bag fits easily under the seat and can accommodate more layers of clothes without making a disorderly pile when carried around.
2. Put nicely folded lighter clothes in horizontal layers to occupy the center of the bag. Put your small laptop or notebook and/or tablet over the layers of clothes as the last item to stay on top of others. This helps you go through security easily where you’ll likely need to pull the laptop out and put it in a separate tray.
3. If you are traveling in winter or going to a cold place and need to take thick or warm clothing items, like a jacket and/jeans, don’t put it inside the bag. Instead wear them to the airport. Carry your jacket over your arm if you don’t want to wear it.
4. Once you get to the flight gate, move small items from your bag – like your ID, wallet, and pens etc – to your jacket’s pockets to make room inside the bag and thus shrink its size a little.
5. The charging cables and adapters can go on top of the laptop and not along the front or back of the bag’s length. If the bag is required to be measured inside the measurer, these items may fatten up the front, back, or sides.
6. If you need to read on the plane, carry an e-book on your laptop or tablet, if you are carrying one, instead of carrying a printed book. If you need to carry writing material, choose a small note pad or mini journal instead of a standard sized notebook.
7. Zip up your bag and remove the air by pressing all the sides and corners against the stuff inside. A smaller-looking bag is not likely to be singled out for checking in the measurer even if it has a little more stuff than a bigger-looking bag with lots of air trapped inside.
8. Don’t overstuff your bag if it’s not realistic to pack all you need in a personal item bag. It’s better to pay for an extra bag that you really need when you are booking your flight than to pay a lot of money at the airport because you put too much stuff in the small bag and can’t leave it behind.

Hope these tips are useful for your next flight with only a personal item on any low-fare airline. Travel safe and enjoy your moments in the air as well as on the ground at your destination.