A new viral TikTok trend has seen plane passengers warn each other about ‘seat squatters’ — people who grab unoccupied seats without checking with the flight attendants
Air travellers have been warned about the new ‘seat squatting’ trend.
‘Seat squatters’ are passengers who take unoccupied seats without asking flight attendants or waiting for boarding to be completed. Influencer Shannon Ella shared her experience with this trend in a video that has now garnered over 212,000 views on TikTok. In her video, she recounts how a man took her seat and refused to move when confronted.
“Is that a thing that people are doing on planes now? They just sit in your seat and just go like, ‘no, it’s mine, I sat there first so minesies?'” she questioned. The comments section of her TikTok video is filled with similar stories from other passengers.
One traveller even shared an incident in which she handed her two young children to the woman occupying her seat, prompting the woman to quickly find her own seat. A flight attendant named Olivia commented on the TikTok: “I’m a flight attendant and once a passenger says someone is in my seat, I 100 per cent make them move to their assigned seat.”
Reddit forums are also brimming with anecdotes about ‘seat squatting’, reports the Express.
One Reddit user claimed they witnessed three ‘seat squatters’ on a single flight, including a man who insisted that he was supposed to be in seat 12B instead of his assigned seat 28C.
“The next was a lady in 18A who was being adamant with the seat holder that she needed to be by the window and not in the middle. The next was a couple that was supposed to be in 24C and D and decided to camp out and plant their flag in 24A and B.”
One user on Instagram noted: “This happened to me in Turkey on my way to Nigeria. A man was in my Exit seat and told me to sit in his seat in the back. I thought he wasn’t understanding me until [someone] stood up and yelled for him to get outta my seat. He jumped up and scurried to his seat SO fast!”
People are also sharing potential solutions, such as selling them the seat or denying them boarding. Passengers can pay for specific seats when booking their flight. Alternatively, if a passenger wants to move seats on the plane they can ask a flight attendant or gate agent.
If you have not pre-booked a seat on a flight, or spoken to a flight attendant or gate agent and had your seat upgraded or switched before boarding, your best bet is to wait until the boarding process is complete. One every passenger has boarded you will be able to see if the plane has empty seats or rows. You can then ask a flight crew member whether you are able to sit in one of those seats.
On some flights, especially those with many empty seats, a flight attendant may announce that there are empty seats and people can move if they wish to. However, there may be limitations to this. For example, if there are many empty seats in first class, you cannot just move there if you were previously in economy.