How I Attempted to Sneak onto a Flight in my Luggage and What I Learned

It was a dumb idea that I saw on a YouTube video - trying to sneak onto a flight by hiding in my checked luggage. I quickly realized how impossible and dangerous it would be after thinking it through. Here is my story.

Would the Bag be Too Heavy?

The first issue is weight. Most airlines limit checked bags to around 32 kilograms, which is fairly light for a person to hide inside of. Even if I didn’t weigh too much, ground staff and baggage handlers are trained to identify bags that feel too dense to just be luggage. My bag would surely be spotted as suspicious.

Surviving the Cargo Hold

Let’s say I somehow slipped by the weight restrictions. The bigger problem is surviving in the cargo hold. Most passenger planes do not climate control their luggage compartments. At cruising altitudes of over 30,000 feet, it is around minus 50 degrees Celsius outside. Without any kind of insulation from extreme cold temperatures, I risked freezing to death within minutes. Hypothermia would quickly set in.

Passing Security Screening

Even if I could handle the freezing temperatures, I’d still have to avoid detection going through the airline’s security process. All checked bags are screened using xray machines. It would be nearly impossible to hide inside luggage going through the scanner without showing up as an anomalous shape. Security agents are also trained to identify suspicious objects. There is no way I could appear as just a jumble of clothing and personal items.

Stranded at the Destination Airport

Let’s say by some miracle I wasn’t caught during bag screening either. My plan was deeply flawed because there was no way for me to get out of the luggage compartment upon arrival. I’d essentially be trapped inside my bag, left to slowly run out of oxygen. Airport staff would be unable to identify me amidst the sea of checked luggage in the cargo hold. My fate would be to slowly suffocate.

Taking an Unreasonable Safety Risk

When I took a step back to think through this crazy YouTube scheme, I realized how unreasonable and dangerous of an idea it truly was. As fun as it seemed watching some prank on video, the reality of stuffing myself undetected into checked baggage posed huge risks to my life. Even if I succeeded, I’d be putting the safety of the flight itself at risk by traveling outside of the normal passenger screening process. It simply wasn’t a risk worth taking for a free plane ticket.

Booking a Flight the Safe and Affordable Way

In the end, I decided the smart choice was to just book an airline ticket through Skyscanner or another flight search site like a normal person. With some searching, it’s amazing what kind of cheap fares you can find by comparing multiple airlines at once. You may not get the thrill of pulling off an extreme stunt, but you also avoid putting your life in serious danger. My health and safety are worth far more than any adrenaline rush or money saved on airfare. It’s best to leave sneaking onto planes to movies rather than reality.

Learning an Important Life Lesson

This experience taught me an invaluable lesson. Not everything you see people doing online should be blindly imitated. Just because some people manage to pull off risky stunts doesn’t mean the average person can as well. We need to think sensitively about not just our own well-being, but the safety of others. There are always smarter, lower-risk ways of achieving our goals that don’t endanger lives. That’s a lesson I’ll never forget.