Nobody wants the middle seat on a flight - you don't get the window view nor do you have easy access to the aisle.
Now, one TikToker has shared a way to completely avoid being allocated the dreaded middle seat.
In the video, Bethany (@bxwise), a self-confessed "overthinker" who is "outthinking the airlines" has revealed her ultimate hack.
“You know when it’s 24 hours before your flight, and then you get to check in, and that’s how you find out what seat you’re in?” Bethany asked rhetorically.
It begins when booking a ticket where she advises travellers to skip the option if they’re asked whether they want to pick their seat while booking.
“Don’t even look at that,” she said while she covered her eyes.
“I have never been randomly assigned to a middle seat, and this is how I keep doing it.”
@bxwise an overthinker, outthinking the airlines 🫡 #traveltiktok #travellife #travelhack #budgettraveltips #budgettravel #funny #airporthacks #traveltips #middleseatlottery #middleseatistheworst #randomseats #airlinehacks #airlinetiktok
She then explained that you must be “on check-in immediately” 24 hours before the flight opens to be assigned your seat, and the TikToker insists "you will get an aisle or a window" if you do this.
But if you had a “sneaky peek” at the seats pre-check in and didn't pay for the one you wanted, then that is how "you are put in the middle".
“How do we know this?” Bethany added. “I did it one time. The last flight that I booked… I looked. That was the first time I ever got a middle seat.”
To conclude she asked any of her "brave" viewers to have a peek at seats before booking to see if her theory is true.
Since sharing her seating hack, Bethany's video received an influx of comments from people sharing the tricks they do to try and get their desired seats.
One person said: "I screenshot the seat map before booking. compare the map after booking my flight. that’s how I know which seat I’m assigned to."
"My trick is to wait until later on to check in," another person wrote. "I assume airlines will assign the seats with the least value first and keep nicer ones open to buy."
Someone else added: "My trick is to always check in late 'cause they’ve usually assigned all the middles already."
"Or just get there when check-in at the airport opens. I work at the airport and there’s usually plenty of seats open still," a fourth person commented.
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