Avoid helping strangers with their excess baggage at the airport.

Has anyone ever requested you to carry his or her excess baggage at the airport?

Imagine you are at the airport, standing in line waiting for your turn for the check-in to drop your baggage. Suddenly, someone approaches you by seeing that you are traveling light. And requests you if you can carry some of his or her stuff along with your baggage. What would you do?

Before you answer that question, let’s try and understand the consequences it could lead up to.

Consequences of helping strangers at the airport with their excess baggage

Here are a few situations which could occur if you assist a stranger with his / her excess baggage.

Suspicious item

Imagine this person queuing ahead of you or behind notices that you are traveling light, approaches you and introduces him or herself and somehow convinces you to carry their excess baggage, it could be anything, from a box of chocolates to a simple plain bag of rice. And you somehow as a sign of humanity help them out by accepting the item.

Now they somehow check themselves in from the airline check-in counter and then clear the immigration as well safely.

And now, it’s your turn to cross the immigration. And now you are heading towards your boarding gate. Suddenly, your name has been announced or a couple of airport customs officers are waiting for you at the boarding gate.

They ask you to step aside and follow them to a room and show you what you’ve been carrying or trying to carry out of the country. And to your shock you discover something illegal hidden in that bag of chocolates.

Next thing you are behind the bars in jail awaiting trial. Sad.

In the worst case scenario it could be even fatal.

This can also happen in the arriving country if somehow your suspicious item goes undetected in the origin country.

Immigration clearance

Imagine the same scenario as above, and now in this case, the person is behind you for the immigration queue.

You get yourself cleared and move forward to your boarding gate.

Later you don’t seem to locate this person in the boarding gate area or even in the aircraft.

Upon landing you learn that this person couldn’t clear the immigration due to some reason.

Next thing you are being investigated by the airport custom authorities over carrying this suspected item given to you by this total stranger who could not clear the immigration.

On the contrary, even you have to avoid seeking help from others in case you are carrying excess baggage because imagine they were unable to cross the immigration. Everything feels good in the beginning, but you never know what future holds for you.

Solutions for carrying excess baggage

It’s not that there is no solution to this problem, please find below a few points which could get you out of this worry of carrying extra baggage.

Do not do the exchange of excess luggage in front of the check-in counter

As you must be fully aware when you are at the airport, the place is surrounded with CCTV cameras. So if the exchange takes place inside the airport, there is a 90% to 95% chance that it will catch you doing the exchange. And if something goes wrong, you will be investigated by the airport authorities.

In fact, even the airline check-in staff or airport staff attending the check-in will prevent you from doing it if they notice.

There is a reason for that, imagine you perform the exchange in front of the counter, and when the investigation takes place, the check-in staff will also be brought in for questioning.

Check for any friend or reference if flying on the same flight

It is always wise to check with your close ones, associates and colleagues if they know anyone flying on the same flight, so you can do the exchange in advance so that an understanding is established in advance.