Worn vs Carried: The Carry-On Arms Race

The fishing vest hack was just the beginning. Airlines have raised checked bag fees 30-50% since 2020, and budget carriers now enforce personal item sizes at the gate with physical bag sizers. This creates powerful incentives to maximize every cubic inch of carry capacity — and travelers have discovered a regulatory blind spot: clothing isn't luggage. This episode maps the full ecosystem of wearable storage, from MOLLE backpack expansion systems to layered jacket strategies that distribute 15 pounds of gear across three worn layers. We explore the four categories of carry-on optimization, how TSA scanners create unexpected constraints, and why airlines are starting to close the loophole — but may never fully solve the definitional problem of what counts as "normal clothing. Episode #220699 — open it directly at myweirdprompts.com/220699