I try to avoid checking my baggage whenever possible — to the point where I usually only travel with one bag which I carry onto the airplane with me — but what if you are carrying more items with you and want to avoid paying baggage fees at the same time; or perhaps avoid having your luggage thrown around by baggage handlers?
Wear Your Belongings to Avoid Baggage Fees and Mishandled Luggage?
As many airlines have increased baggage fees recently due to the current war in the Middle East — which has caused fuel prices to become significantly more expensive and has resulted in airlines attempting to recoup higher expenses with increased revenue — avoiding having to pay baggage fees has become more important to passengers who are trying to save money.
One way to avoid baggage fees is to earn elite level status in your preferred airline membership program — but that has becoming significantly more difficult over years with the spate of perceived yet relentless devaluations.
Another option is that you may want to consider “wearing” your luggage to avoid paying baggage fees.
The concept of wearing your belongings is not new. Back in January of 2010, I first reported here at The Gate With Brian Cohen on how FlyerTalk member PTravel was pleasantly surprised that Scott Jordan — the founder and chief executive officer of SCOTTeVEST/SeV Travel Clothing, which also offers clothing where you can store your belongings in an effort to avoid paying baggage fees — personally responded by posting to a discussion on FlyerTalk with a video specifically addressing FlyerTalk members by asking for a wish list on how to improve his company’s products.
Perhaps the products of SCOTTeVEST — which also offers a line of “technology enabled clothing” — might have proven to be too successful. Later that year, a controversy was created where Jordan alleged that Delta Sky Magazine rejected ad from SCOTTeVEST because it markets its products as a means to “stay organized and avoid extra baggage fees” with “the most stylish way to beat the system,” possibly threatening to jeopardize Delta Air Lines from profiting on collecting those ancillary baggage fees.
Sky magazine was the official on-board magazine for Delta Air Lines and has not been published since its last issue in March of 2020 due to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic.
I hardly doubt that since that controversy first surfaced that the products of either SCOTTeVEST had significantly impacted the revenue to Delta Air Lines derived from the collection of billions of dollars of fees to check baggage — but that did not stop Jordan from posting a video back in 2011 with an update pertaining to a supposed response by the Transportation Security Administration which was published in the Washington Post:
That might not have been the only problem, as FlyerTalk members had reported issues with the quality of products manufactured by SCOTTeVEST. FlyerTalk member stairclimber posted a list of similar products manufactured by alternative companies…
…but despite that, FlyerTalk members had regularly posted when there is a sale on SCOTTeVEST products in the Travel Products forum on FlyerTalk.
A company named Ecouterre offered a line of “clothing” which had many pockets where you can store items which you would normally pack in a bag and possibly check before boarding the airplane for your flight…
…but Internet Brands — which is the same company that owns FlyerTalk — purchased Ecouterre in 2011; and since then, the brand has basically become inactive.
Final Boarding Call
Since I originally wrote the statement that “I am not sure I personally would want to wear something that can tend to be too heavy to wear — especially when loaded with enough belongings to fill up a piece of luggage” in this article when it was first published on Sunday, April 20, 2014 at 11:42 in the morning, I have since owned a product that was manufactured by SCOTTeVEST and tried using it while traveling. While it can hold quite a few items in all of its pockets and certainly can potentially significantly reduce or even eliminate the need for baggage to be checked, I found the product to generally be uncomfortable after only a few minutes because I was too hot when wearing it. That is not a knock against the product, as I usually feel similarly uncomfortable when I am wearing backpacks or coats or other types of vests or jackets.
Whenever I travel, I want to wear something comfortable. I do not even like wearing a jacket when I drive a car because I tend to get hot — even during a cold winter — so I would rather travel in a manner which has been simple, tried, and true for me…
…I will simply continue to travel with one bag with all of the belongings I want and need with which I can carry onto the aircraft.
Have you ever worn — or would you ever consider wearing — “wearable luggage”? If so, what are your thoughts — and have you saved money on baggage fees?
All photographs ©2016, ©2017, and ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
