Last month, Southwest Airlines officially began charging for checked baggage, ending its long-time trademarked “bags fly free” policy. The big change has led some passengers to make some major moves to avoid having to pay those new bag fees.
The new Southwest Airlines bag fees will cost travelers $35 for their first checked bag and $45 for a second, which is in line with most other domestic airlines, but quite a significant change from the airline previously offering two free checked bags for each customer.
While some customers have resigned to the fact that they must now pay for their baggage, others have taken more drastic measures to avoid those charges.
Though Southwest Airlines has started charging for checked baggage, Southwest does still allow passengers to bring one carry-on item free of charge, like most other domestic airlines. Passengers are now doing everything they can to take full advantage of that policy.
A recent Reddit post on the Southwest Airlines subreddit offered a look at what some customers are doing to ensure they can fit all of their belongings inside a carry-on bag to avoid having to pay for a checked bag.
The original poster shared some photos of vacuum-sealed bags that they used to make their clothes as small as possible and fit as much in a carry-on bag as they could.
While some questioned how the passenger would re-pack the bag for a return trip, the original poster replied that they packed their travel pump for the vacuum-sealed bags, with someone else adding that those pumps are actually very compact these days.
“USB powered pump. It’s really compact, smaller than your average smart phone. I used this for a trip to the London, Scotland, and Ireland last year,” a Reddit user commented.
Other commenters suggested using packing cubes to make things as compact as possible without using vacuum sealing. Some packing cubes, Reddit users pointed out, even have additional zippers to make them even more compact once they are packed.
So if you’re among those lamenting Southwest’s change in policy, you might consider packing your carry-on bag a bit more efficiently.
Southwest Airlines Customers Creatively Avoid Bag Fees first appeared on Men’s Journal on Jun 28, 2025
