You’ve got to your seat on the plane, and no one else has arrived in your row yet. You anxiously watch the aisle and hope that no one sits down, so you can spread out and feel more comfortable. Sound familiar?
Then someone locks eyes with you, and sits down. Disappointment follows. But apparently there’s a simple method you can ensure this doesn’t happen. In fact, you’ll know when you board the plane that you’ll have the entire row to yourself for the whole duration of the flight.
Influencer Maddie Borge, a Norwegian who lives in London, recently tried out the hack, called Neighbour Free, when she travelled on an overnight flight to Sydney, Australia, in the hope that she’d feel more comfortable and could get some sleep.
Maddie explained she had signed up to something called Neighbour Free when she flew with Etihad. She explained: “I bid on the seats next to me on the plane, and if the flight isn’t completely full when I board, I get the whole row to myself. “It’s basically like Business Class in Economy. I can lie down, sleep, all that.”
The content creator was “excited” to hear she’d “won” the seats, which meant she had the entire row to herself. Maddie was able to sleep for eight of the 13.5 hour flight.
Explaining how much it had cost her in the comment section, Maddie said she had paid £200 to upgrade to three seats. When someone suggested it might have been cheaper to upgrade to Business Class, she replied: “Business Class upgrade would have cost £1,900++”.
Another commenter suggested it might be awkward if someone comes to try to sit down, thinking the row is free. However, Maddie explained: “One guy walked past, and asked if the seat was ‘free’ like an hour into the flight, but I just told him ‘no, it’s taken’ and then he kept walking!”
Neighbour Free seats is a service provided by a number of different airlines, including Etihad, Sri Lankan Airlines, EgyptAir and Qantas.
Qantas explains: “Neighbour Free offers you the opportunity to reserve the seat next to you, so you can enjoy extra space and comfort when travelling in Economy. If eligible, you’ll be sent an email invitation to reserve a Neighbour Free seat from 48 hours before your scheduled flight departure.
“Neighbour Free can be reserved up to 1 hour before departure for domestic flights and up to 2 hours before departure for international flights. Neighbour Free seats are subject to availability and may need to be changed for operational, safety or security reasons, even after boarding the aircraft.”
To see if the airline you’re flying with provides the service, check their website.