Viral plane seat ‘hack’ to get whole row to yourself – but risks annoying other passengers
SOME people might say that this is just plane selfish.
But a popular airline ‘hack’ to secure an entire row of seats for just two people has been sparking conversations online.
The trick is for two people travelling together – for instance, a husband and wife – to book the window and aisle seat of one row, instead of two seats next to each other.
Apparently this is to disincentivise other airline passengers who are travelling solo from selecting a middle seat – popularly viewed as the worst place to sit on a plane – and instead pick another row.
And while people on their own will be discouraged, other couples will also likely want to sit together, meaning the lone middle seat between the two savvy flyers will be overlooked in this instance too.
But while this devious trick has a high reward if it works, it also comes with a high degree of risk, and is far from a fool-proof strategy.
People desperate to get last-minute flights will likely rather sit in a middle seat than not catch their flight at all.
And bargain hunters may also be unbothered by the idea of sitting between two people – especially on shorter flights – because it is often the cheapest seat.
Beggars can’t be choosers, as the saying goes, so particularly popular flights which sell all their tickets will of course see every seat used up.
There is always the fallback option of asking whoever sits in the middle if they would rather have the aisle or the window, so you can sit with your partner.
Some middle passengers would likely be delighted by this and see it as a win, letting you and your significant other at least lean on one another during a long-haul trip.
But others may be wise to your tricks and insist on sitting in their alloted place, possibly even taking up lots of room and being generally obnoxious to spite you for your attempted seat subterfuge.
Some rare specimens may actually just like sitting in the middle seat, for whatever reason – or simply neglect to choose a seat and automatically get assigned one.
One Reddit user posted a question on the r/TravelHacks subreddit a year ago, asking if the trick really works.
The user, ‘SwimmingAnt10’, wrote: “We are flying to Venice from the US and cannot afford to upgrade our seats to premium.
“People keep telling me to do the ‘seat hack’ where you leave the middle seat open in hopes no one books it.
“If you do this, how often does it work?
'Selfish' hack to get a row to yourself
A WOMAN has been accused of being selfish after revealing a hack that gets her a whole row of seats to herself during a flight.
Squashing in next to strangers on board a plane is never fun, leading some people to take drastic measures.
Money-saving Instagram account Spoken is run by a woman who offers advice on how people can cut back on everyday costs.
She revealed a “hack” for getting a whole row of seats on planes, while only paying for one seat.
She labelled it “poor man’s first class” and said it involves buying three tickets, but refunding two shortly before taking off.
In the video, she said: “This is called ‘poor man’s first class’.
“I bought one ticket for myself, then I bought two more fully refundable tickets in the same row.
“Then, 45 minutes before I boarded, I cancelled two of my tickets, and I got all of my money back.
“90 per cent of the time, the airline doesn’t fill up the spare seats. so I get the whole row to myself.
“In the end I only paid for one ticket because the other two were fully refundable.”
Most people were really not impressed with the hack, describing it as selfish and saying it could drive up ticket prices.
One wrote: “There are a lot of people who need to travel for work, family emergencies etc. You’re taking affordable seats that someone might have really needed.”
Another said: “Great, just drives up the cost of all seats.”
A third added: “This is incredibly selfish on several levels.”
“If someone did book the middle seat, would it be rude to ask them to swap for window or aisle, whichever they choose?
“I’ve never flown for longer than 6 hours and this is a 12-hour flight for me so I’m nervous.”
Many other social media fans were sceptical of the idea.
Another user replied: “It doesn’t [work]. Most flights these days are way overbooked with lost of people on standby.
“I flew at 4:30am out of Atlanta and even at that hour the plane was full.”
Another said: “Crew member here. You’re rolling the dice.
“Flight loads this year are pretty large and most of my transatlantic flights have been about 68-80% full.
“All the basic economy and employee standby travel gets added in at the last minute and that’s usually where your you lose your bet.”