When flying short distances, the quality of the in-flight entertainment options or even the presence of a screen on the seat in front of you is always a gamble. While most major airlines have been modernizing their fleets with new planes that have screens at every seat, low-cost carriers will generally not have them.
For shorter flights between nearby cities such as New York and Boston, airlines such as United (UAL) -) and American Airlines (AAL) -) will also often use older Boeing (BA) -) and Airbus (EADSF) -) models that do not always have screens or plugs for charging one's phone.
Related: Economy Airline Passenger Invented a Genius Hack for Flying First Class-Style
Faced with such a situation aboard one of her flights, the TikTok influencer behind the @fatpuppyent account filmed a satirical video of herself using the motion sickness bag placed in the seat pocket in front of her to hold her phone and in so doing create an ad-hoc "entertainment system."
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No phone holder? One traveler chooses the MacGyver method
"Ultimate travel hack!" reads the overlay of a woman holding up both her phone and a motion sickness bag in front of the screen. She continues to remove the phone from a standard plastic case, put the white motion sickness bag inside the case with the edges poking out, place the phone back inside the case and then attach it to the tray table by the lock used to hold the table down.
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The MacGyvered version of a "phone holder" made an impression on @fatpuppyent's 424,000 followers and the video racked up more than 11 million views since it was posted in August.
In general, the account is known for prank videos and different people pulling off clearly ridiculous experiments passed off as "hacks." Some recent viral videos include one of a raw chicken being cooked inside a watermelon and putting chunks of pumpkin inside a coffee maker to create the ultimate Pumpkin Spice Latte.
The video was meant to poke fun at airlines that do not provide travelers with in-flight screens and the commenters quickly picked up on this with jokes about their experiences with different airlines.
Some of the best 'travel hacks' regularly pop up on TikTok
"Fly Delta and you get your own TV screen!" wrote one commenter.
"This must be for Spirit Airlines as long as you pay extra for a seat that comes with a tray table," wrote another in a joke reference to budget airlines treating basic features as extras.
As the home for endless such travel videos, TikTok regularly turns up both regular travel hacks such as taking the destination tag off one's luggage after arriving to much more questionable ones.
Back in July, California resident Giga Vashakidze was flying home after a trip to Italy and filmed a neighbor across the aisle hang up the blanket one gets during the flight from the overhead compartment for a bit of "privacy."
Vashakidze's video quickly gathered millions of views from commenters saying that you have to "do what you gotta do" to improve the travel experience.
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