A SCOTTISH man decided to skirt an airline’s excess baggage fee by wearing the extra clothing that tipped his suitcases over the limit.

John Irvine of Glasgow was boarding an EasyJet flight from Nice with his family last week when he was told his check-in baggage was too heavy. Rather than pay, he opened his bag and began putting on layers — as his amused son, Josh, filmed the incident on Snapchat.

“We spent too much on our holiday anyway so he didn’t want to spend anymore,” Josh, 17, told the Mirror.

John, 46, had arrived at the airport in just a T-shirt but was soon bulked up to about 15 layers of T-shirts and sweaters for the flight back to Edinburgh. According to Josh, his father had done some shopping on their trip, leading to the excess weight.

Eventually, the Irvines made their way to security, but John’s unusual appearance caught the attention of airport guards. “They told him to take off some tops, and he kept taking them off because they were wondering what he was hiding,” said Josh. When the guards were satisfied John wasn’t a threat, he made his way to the gate with armfuls of shirts, which he brought onto the plane.

As airlines tighten fees for excess baggage, travelers are increasingly turning to extreme measures to avoid paying.

Last year, a man flying from Reykjavik to London was removed from a British Airways flight for trying to wear 10 shirts and eight pairs of pants rather than pay a US$125 excess baggage fee.(SD-Agencies)