Booking seats together as a group can incur additional fees, prompting some travelers to turn to creative strategies in order to save money or secure extra space.
However, a baker from New York City described herself as a ‘victim’ of one such hack, which resulted in her losing the seat she had booked.
In a TikTok video that has received over nine million views, Shreya recounted how she was flying from San Francisco to New York when she found that a couple had occupied her seats, with the woman in the aisle seat and the man in the middle.
Shreya explained that the couple, wanting to sit together, asked her to take the window seat, but she declined due to her ‘very small bladder’ and tendency to feel claustrophobic.
She expressed her preference for the middle seat over the window: “Between a window seat and a middle seat, I would still prefer the middle seat because I only have to step over one person.”
A trend on social media encourages travelers to book separate seats, such as a window and an aisle, to leave the middle seat free, in hopes that it will remain unoccupied or that the person seated there will be willing to swap.
The expectation is that the middle seat will either provide extra space or that the occupant will be persuaded to switch.
Shreya proposed that the couple occupy the window and middle seats, allowing them to sit together while she would be more comfortable in the aisle.
Although this appeared to be a reasonable compromise for everyone involved, the situation did not resolve as anticipated.
Shreya recalled the woman declaring: “‘Well I’m going to sit in the seat that I paid for’.
“And I was just like, girl, I am doing you the favor. You and your man didn’t book seats next to each other and I’m switching my seat so that y’all could sit next to each other.”
Despite her objections about needing to climb over two people to access the restroom, the couple insisted they would ‘get up’ whenever she needed to leave her seat.
Feeling the pressure of an impatient queue behind her, Shreya reluctantly took the window seat and claimed that the couple failed to accommodate her the three times she needed to get up during the flight.
She recounted: “I guess [it’s] my karma for not giving up the seat immediately, but I was just flabbergasted that they were acting like they were doing me a favor and then got mad for not, like, receiving that well.”
Shreya concluded that she is now opposed to such hacks, stating that she and her boyfriend would ‘never’ put others in a similar predicament, and acknowledged that the situation might have been different if the couple had shown some flexibility.
Her experience sparked numerous comments from others, advising against relinquishing one’s seat and criticizing couples who don’t purchase seats together.
A TikTok user commented: ‘This made me so mad for you’ while others suggested getting up ‘every five minutes’ to annoy the couple.
Another added: “When she said she’ll sit in the seat she paid for you say, ok. Me too! And then you take the middle seat between them and turn up your music.”