All airlines allocate seats to paying customers by the time of departure, but for adults travelling in groups, paying for seat selection beforehand is the safest way to ensure they can sit together. The fee for doing this can cost anything from £2 to upwards of £20, and according to a savvy travelling duo, there’s an easy booking hack that secures passengers the best seats every time.
In a video posted on their TikTok profile, seasoned travellers Oskar and Dan @oskaranddan shared the handy booking tip.
Sharing their expertise, they revealed the key reason why people “shouldn’t pay to book seats next to each other” when flying in groups or even in a pair.
Oskar and Dan said: “Of course, you want to fly next to your travel companion but it’s not very comfortable if you also have some stranger sitting next to you for hours.
“That’s why you should always book yourselves in the window and aisle seats”.
READ MORE: ‘Fantastic’ UK beach is the sunniest in spring
This applies to rows of three, where the middle seat is left as a “spare” that can be booked by other travellers.
According to savvy travellers, leaving this seat empty means that passengers can enjoy extra space without any added fees.
They explained: “If your flight isn’t full there’s a high chance the seat won’t be taken and you can enjoy the whole row to yourselves!”
And even if the seat is booked by a stranger, it’s more than likely that they would be happy to swap with the person on the aisle or window seat.
Either way, travellers get to sit together for the duration of their flight.
Lucky passengers who do gain the extra seat on an under-booked flight benefit from more legroom, which usually comes with an added fee.
Premium economy extra legroom seats are usually located in rows with emergency exits or at bulkheads.
Such seats offer a relatively cost-effective way to improve the quality of a flight but will set travellers back between £7.99 and around £50 per seat, based on UK airline charges.
READ MORE: Travel expert shares ‘general guidelines’ for tipping on holiday
Airline users who have tried the hack shared their experience with it on TikTok. One person wrote: “My husband and I did this a lot before we had a kid and it always worked.”
Another said: “My folks taught me this trick a few years ago and it works more often than not.”
However, some people noted that certain airlines do not allow gaps to be left on rows taken by the same booking.
For this reason, it may work best when members of a group book the same flight separately.
For all the latest Lifestyle News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
