Airplane Passenger Takes Drastic Action to Avoid $89 Hand Luggage Fee

An airline passenger has been praised for finding an "economical" way of avoiding an $89 hand luggage charge for bringing his skateboard with him on the flight.

Pro skater Shaun Hover told Newsweek he was about to board a Spirit Airlines flight with his wife and three kids when the issue started. "I travel a lot and this has never happened with any other airline," he explained. "We were at the gate when I was suddenly stopped and told, 'You have to pay for that carry on.'"

The carry-on in question happened to be Hover's skateboard, which he said he has taken on several previous flights with no issue. Hover said: "I didn't have a bag or backpack or anything else, but they said I still had to pay $89 for it because it's technically longer than the 'personal item' dimensions they have displayed."

According to the professional skateboarder, staff was "hassling everyone about their carry-on bags" with many having to stump up the extra cash to get theirs onboard. It was a different story for Hover though, who quickly hit upon a uniquely destructive solution for ensuring his skateboard met the hand luggage requirements.

"It was 1 min until they were going to close the gate and my family was already on the plane," he recalled. "At first I was thinking I had two options; either cough up the money or leave the board behind. Then I realized it would be most economical and funny to snap my board down the middle and fold it in half, thus making it 'fit the dimensions' of a free personal item."

Eager to capture his inspired act of malicious compliance on camera for posterity, Hover began filming himself snapping the board in front of the flight agents before showing it now fit the necessary dimensions for hand luggage.

It's fair to say that his actions got a mixed response from the staff on duty. Hover revealed: "Once I did it one of the agents said, 'That was unnecessary, sir.' Another agent looked at me, looked at the other staff, shrugged his shoulders and said, 'We'll, it fits.' And they let me on the plane without paying the fee."

Once onboard, Hover continued filming to reveal a flight attendant gifted him and his family some candy after seeing what unfolded before he got through the gate. They weren't the only ones to applaud his actions though with Hover's clip of the incident subsequently going viral after being posted to TikTok.

At the time of writing, the clip, which can be viewed here, has amassed over 15 million views along with a glut of comments applauding Hover's approach.

"Malicious compliance, I love it!" Hayden Young wrote with FatKitsch adding: "well played." Gregglz loved "the way it fit perfectly afterwards" while em wrote: "the silence after it cracked in half was satisfying."

Polly Hannah said breaking the board in two "makes sense" as someone would be "able to bring your trucks and wheels and you can just get a new deck." C_M_E_ agreed, writing: "A board is $50, he still has his trucks and wheels. Makes sense to me."

Hover confirmed this was why he decided to snap the board in two.

"Replacing the deck is easy. Replacing the trucks, wheels, bearings, and hardware is an ordeal," he explained. "A new deck costs $50 to $60 and for me they're free from the skateboard company that I ride for professionally."

The pro skater is surprised at how popular his clip has become. "I was not expecting the video to go viral at all," he said. "Tony Hawk even left a comment sharing his own story of snapping his board in half at London Heathrow airport."

"Everyone has had a bad experience with an airline," Hover concluded. "I think this video gives people a tiny sense of satisfaction knowing the airline did not get my $89."

Newsweek has contacted Spirit Airlines for comment.