I had the most awkward plane flight — they made us sit face to face
It was like a speed date at 30,000 feet.
An Illinois passenger revealed her “uncomfortable” seating arrangement on a European flight — in which she was forced to sit face-to-face with another passenger like a sky-high inflight date.
A TikTok video detailing the awkward configuration has amassed 3.8 million views — and freaked out users — on TikTok.
“I’ve never seen this on a flight before … seats facing each other?” wrote influencer Megan Homme in the caption of the clip showing the unusual layout, which she endured while flying a “regional airline in Sweden,” per a subsequent TikTok comment.
In the five-second snippet, the Chicago resident and fellow flyers can be seen sitting opposite each other in the sky à la a flight attendant’s jump seat.
And while that might seem like it would allow for more legroom — as flyers aren’t hemmed in by a seat back — that apparently wasn’t the case for Homme. The flustered flyer’s clip showed how her knees and feet were mere inches away from another pair of passengers who were sitting across from her.
Unfortunately, the Chicagoan couldn’t avoid this uncomfortable orientation, as she wasn’t able to choose her seat ahead of boarding.
Armchair air travelers commiserated with her inflight plight.
“Absolutely not. Full refund,” wrote one appalled viewer, while another added, “That’s too much looking time for me.”
A third commenter described the composition as “a new fear unlocked.”
“Um excuse me this isn’t a train ride,” quipped one TikTok wit, referring to the chair layout on some locomotives.
Meanwhile, another wondered, “Like what’s the reason for that, who’s idea this is and who accepted this idea.”
The Post has reached out to Homme for comment.
Interestingly, aft-facing airline seats aren’t as unusual as one might think with airlines ranging from United Airlines to British Airways offering the arrangement in business class.
According to the online travel site The Points Guy, many airlines opt for those seats so they can squeeze more of them into the business class cabin, effectively prioritizing space maximization over privacy.
Paradoxically, the seats cost more money, which is why airlines are reluctant to install them, Newsweek reported.
The arrangement is apparently safer than forward-facing seats, though.
Richard Snyder, a former University of Michigan transportation safety researcher, told Smithsonian magazine in October 2009 that crash protection afforded by aft-facing seats is “supported by over half a century of experience.”
The article referenced a 1952 edition of Naval Aviation News, which explained that “passengers in Navy transport planes have ten-fold better chances of coming out of crashes alive, thanks to backward-facing seats.”
After reviewing the backward-facing business seats on British Airways, The Points Guy concluded that it had some benefits, namely brilliant views out the window without having to twist one’s neck.
Unfortunately, there were far more cons, per the reviewer, who complained about nausea during the plane’s ascent, an inability to use a laptop comfortably and, unsurprisingly, a complete lack of privacy.
“On the AA 787-8, the rear-facing window seats face the aisle, while the center seats in the same row face each other,” TPG wrote. “While this configuration was designed to maximize privacy, I still ended up having multiple staring contests with the woman seated in the center seat 4H.”
