An American Airlines passenger had an unusually placed aisle seat that made her feel self-conscious, but other people viewing her video about it declared it to be the best seat on the plane.
The TikTok comes from creator Hot Lambda (@champagneemami7), and it has received over 371,500 views since going up on April 22. In it, the creator describes herself as “lowkey feeling embarrassed” about her aisle seat on a flight.
What’s wrong with it?
The seat juts out into the aisle, offset from the row of seats in front of it. It does provide some extra legroom but also leaves her feeling a bit exposed.
There’s also a follow-up video that shows a distinct drawback to the seat: There’s a screen on the left armrest that’s smaller than the screens in other rows’ seat backs. When she pulls it up to view it, it tilts forward and to the right, leaving her frustrated and having to watch the screen of the person next to her, who does have a seat aligned with the row in front of it as is customary on planes.
The follow-up video reveals that the seat also has its own foldout tray table, versus the typical airline tray table, which folds out from the seat in front of each row.
The creator is clearly discontent, judging from the on-screen caption in the first video, which asks, “Why is this the aisle seat on American Airlines and can I get a refund?”
@champagneemami7 Asked for the aisle seat and this is what i got 🫠 cant wait to see the food… #gotpranked #traveldiaries #gotprankedagain #dontflyamerican ♬ Funny – Gold-Tiger
As an American Airlines customer, she may have indeed paid a premium for that seat. According to NerdWallet, seats run from “free — for standard seats except when booking basic economy fares — to over $160 for an extra-legroom seat on a long-haul international flight.”
The article goes on to say, “American Airlines seat selection fees vary based on several factors — including the flight length and what type of seat you want. Window and aisle seats are generally the most expensive. Meanwhile, a middle seat in between two preferred seats might not cost anything.”
Hot Lambda continued to express dismay in the caption accompanying the video, reporting, “Asked for the aisle seat and this is what i got,” with a #gotpranked hashtag.
Is it that bad?
Some of the commenters to the original video felt Hot Lambda was lucky to have a seat with so much legroom.
“That’s not an aisle seat,” one asserted. “That’s a premium seat.”
“That’s like a holy grail seat. Why are you unhappy?” another inquired.
Yet another pointed out, “As a 5’0″ person, I would be offering that seat to the highest bidder!”
However, some did understand there were drawbacks to the seat.
“I had this seat on a Qatar night flight and everyone just stepped on my feet and invaded my space walking up the aisle,” one shared.
Someone else added, “I’m with you bc where does your personal item go? Or anything you want to use in flight??? And anyone who walks down the aisle is just staring.”
One person called it an “introvert’s worst nightmare.”
And finally, one pointed out, “I feel like I had a nightmare about this seat and I tumbled down the aisle.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Hot Lambda via TikTok comment and to American Airlines via email.
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