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Flying ‘naked’ is the newest travel hack: ‘I am f–king crazy — but I’m free’

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Flying ‘naked’ is the newest travel hack: ‘I am f–king crazy — but I’m free’

They’re going clothes-free at 30,000 feet — sort of.

Hefty airline baggage fees are taking a backseat to the bareback “naked traveling” trend, a money-conscious movement led by freakishly frugal frequent flyers. But no, skinflints aren’t riding high in just their skins. 

“When you travel without luggage,” NYC content creator Bethany Ciotola raved in the closed-caption of TikTok footage. 


Participants in the naked traveling trend are taking to the skies sans suitcases or carry-ons in order to avoid exorbitant airline baggage fees. EdNurg – stock.adobe.com

The titillating testimonial, which raked in over 225,000 views, featured the married mom of four boarding a plane sans suitcases. 

She’s one of the many minimalists of the naked traveling trend — a term coined by Thrillist — to forgo the fuss of paying upwards of $35 to haul her goods from one destination to the next. Instead, the brunette, along with her fellow footloose and fancy-free trippers, is taking to the friendly skies without checked bags, carry-ons or any other costly junk. 

An unencumbered Ciotola danced her way towards the aircraft, with only a small satchel strapped across her chest, as the vid’s voiceover audio declared: “I am f – – king crazy. But I’m free.”

Those liberated sentiments seem to be shared amongst most penny-pinchers of the no-bags fad. 

“Woke up and decided to get on a flight with no checked bag or carry-on — just vibes,” bragged virtual fashionista Alan King while strolling through LaGuardia International Airport in Queens. 

“Traveling with no bags makes me feel so rich,” confessed LA-based tastemaker Hillary Conheady in a separate post. “I’m flying to my parents’ house in South Carolina, where I will proceed to wear all my old clothes from high school for the entire weekend.”

“No extra bag fees for this gal,” she swore. 

It’s the latest sightseer stunt towards saving cash while on the go. But unlike “rawdogging,” which went viral earlier this year, travelers are allowed to have headphones and smartphones to keep themselves busy on flights.

And it couldn’t have gone viral at a better time. 

Major airlines — such as American Airlines, JetBlue and Delta Airlines — have recently vowed to make “big adjustments” in 2025, including updated baggage fees, carry-on policies and general rules.

Air Canada plans to charge passengers $25 for their first piece of carry-on luggage, which includes any bag with rollers or wheels as well as oversized backpacks that are often used abroad, and an additional $36 for a second. A $46 fee will be imposed upon guests who fail to register their baggage prior to arriving at the airport. 


Annoyer flyer paying for baggage at the airport.
Most airway passengers can expect to pay more for their checked and carry-on baggage in the new year. Tyler Olson – stock.adobe.com

Clever jet-setters have, however, come up with ways to avoid the steep luggage rates. 

Some stash their belongings in duty-free bags, sacks handed out at tax-exempt airport shops, to sidestep the costs. 

Others have tried stuffing gear into hallowed neck pillows, hoping their clothes are cushy enough to pass as padding — but the hack backfired on one Frontier flyer, who was ultimately banned after getting caught while trying to pull the con. 

And although the naked traveling trend seems to be fairly harmless, a few naysayers have deemed the thrifty trick “insane.”

“I don’t get how some people are on the JFK AirTrain with no bags,” barked an outraged observer online. “Traveling with no inventory is insane to me.”

“Minimalism, sure,” continued the detractor, calling the trend “extreme.”

“Maybe venturing into negatively minimalist.”

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