Thelife- A TikToker went viral with her story about helping a stranger refuse to switch seats on a plane.
- Her video inspired other users to share similar stories.
A TikToker shared a story about getting on a flight and watching someone ask the woman next to her to downgrade her seat because they wanted to sit near their friend. After her video went viral, it reignited a plane etiquette debate that keeps blowing up on TikTok.
On January 13, a Seattle-based TikToker with 140,000 followers named Arleen (Insider agreed not publish her last name due to privacy concerns) posted the second in a two-part TikTok series on the topic of being asked to switch seats on a flight.
Arleen said she was once flying from Hawaii to Seattle, which takes around five hours, sitting in premium economy at a window seat.
According to Arleen, a fellow passenger was traveling with a companion who was seated in economy and asked a woman in her aisle to swap. The woman began to agree, when Arleen said she intervened, pretending the pair were traveling together in order to give the woman an excuse to refuse to swap seats, as doing so would mean giving up the perks of premium economy.
"If you wanted to sit next to your friend, you should have booked a ticket next to her," Arleen concluded.
The clip followed TikTok's popular storytime format, where creators speak directly to the camera about something they say they experienced. Like Arleen, they don't typically show corroboration of the story they're describing, sometimes leading to speculation that they have been fabricated in an attempt to go viral. Arleen told Insider in a statement that all stories shared on her account are true "unless otherwise explicitly stated."
Her video went viral, receiving 2.4 million views, and most commenters underneath the video said they agreed with Arleen's conclusions about the etiquette of moving seats on a plane.
"You don't ask someone to downgrade for your convenience," said one top comment with 46,000 likes.
@yay4jenna #stitch with @not.cristinayang #travel #airplane ♬ original sound - Jenna
Arleen's video sparked a number of duets and stitches from users who shared their own stories about people they have seen refusing to move seats on a flight.
One user called @lizarddame shared a story on January 15 about traveling with a friend who refused to move seats when a "rude" passenger asked her to. "The rage in his eyes as he realized he was going to have to sit in the middle of both of us in the middle seat," they said.
But not everyone agreed that asking passengers to swap seats is wrong. A user named @yay4jenna said she and her husband once booked the window and aisle seats in the hopes that no one would book the middle seat. When someone had, they asked him if he would switch so they could sit together as a couple, but he refused, according to the user.
"He proceeded to just ignore me and talk to my husband for 14 hours about crypto. It was the weirdest thing," she said, describing the rest of the journey.
Plane etiquette has become a popular talking point on TikTok, particularly the topic of moving seats.
In a statement given to Insider, Arleen said she thinks these videos are relatable to TikTok viewers "because it happens often, and there's etiquette around it. If you don't do it the right way: ask nicely, and make the situation better for the person you're asking to switch, by giving them the upgraded seat, it's rude and inconsiderate."
@aabwinstel #stitch with @maresasd pretty sure this is a controversial flight attendant thought #flightattendantlife #jumpseatwithaly ♬ original sound - Alyssa Winstel
In October, a TikToker named Maresa Friedman went viral and started a heated debate after she made a video saying she refused to move seats on a plane for a family who wanted to sit together. When another user named Brian Pakpour stitched her post, urging people to "do better" and have "compassion," Friedman responded by accusing him of not being "compassionate," adding that the reason she did not want to move seats is that she has a disability.
In a statement given to Insider at the time, Pakpour said, "The original video never mentioned this individual being disabled, so that changed the hypothetical significantly." Meanwhile, multiple other users made videos expressing empathy with Friedman and saying that they have also been villainized for refusing to move from their assigned seat when asked.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.