Passenger’s ‘Premium’ Plane Seat Divides Internet

A video of a plane passenger “randomly” bagging a seat with additional legroom has gone viral on TikTok.
The moment was captured in a video shared by Lydia’s Travel Adventures (@iamthepassenger) and has received over 123,000 views since it was posted on August 24.
A message overlaid on the clip reads: “When you think you’re getting assigned a terrible seat, but the seat in front of you is missing.”
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The footage shows the passenger seated on the plane with her legs stretched out in an empty space in front, where a seat appears to be missing in the row ahead.
A caption shared with the post says, “Did I just get randomly assigned an economy premium seat on British Airways? I honestly did not feel worthy of all this extra legroom I did not pay extra for.”
The passenger’s elation over having more room to stretch her legs is relatable because, apart from the general inconvenience, not having enough personal space on a plane can affect health, according to a January 2019 study published in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics.
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The study, which focused on adult plane passengers who were Spanish, said: “The increase of economy class airline seats is necessary because immobility on airplane flights can develop different pathologies, such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism known as economy class syndrome.”
The study went on: “The increase in size (body mass and stature) and changing proportions of the human body over the past few decades should be considered in the ergonomic design of economy class airline seats,” the study said.
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The study’s results specified “a minimum legroom between 68.1 and 70.1 cm, and seat width between 50.2 and 52.3 cm.”
The study advised that “an international law should regulate a minimum SP [seat pitch—the distance between two rows of seats], LR [legroom] and SW [seat width] for commercial airplanes.”
The scene in the clip drew mixed reactions from users on TikTok.
“Damn you lucky,” said ceeceediva, while honey mustard 0-0 said, “Love when this happens but not when you get weird looks from the people next to you.”
User @gonzaloparraa._ asked: “omg but you don’t have a screen?” The original poster replied, “I thought that at first, but the screen pulled out from the side of the seat.”
User @nowadaysblaze said, “Is it weird, i’d feel naked and hate it.”
Hanna And Coco wrote: “I feel like you’re so exposed though.” The original poster agreed, saying, “I did feel that way a little bit.”
“I’d hate that, I love to rest my feet on the table,” wrote tt (Taylor’s version).
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. The video has not been independently verified.
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