TikToker shares controversial trick to ensure entire row to himself

Flyer shares ‘poor man’s first class’ trick.

 

A TikToker has gone viral with a “flight hack” for how airplane passengers can sneakily get an entire row of seats in economy class for themselves.

 

In a video shared last month, user @ndainternet says that he buys himself a cheap non-refundable ticket and assigns himself a seat.

 

The London-based frequent flyer then buys fully refundable tickets and assigns those bookings to the remaining seats in the row.

 

He later controversially cancels the fully refundable tickets 45 minutes before boarding.

 

According to his logic, airlines won’t have enough time to resell those tickets and the customer will have a luxurious empty row to themselves.

 

He captioned the TikTok video: “If you’re looking to fly on an airline or travel abroad on holiday, you can’t afford a private jet or the first class on most flights.

 

“But with this hack, you can book an airline ticket and get yourself the cheap version of first class and save money!”

 

“This is called a “poor man’s first class,” there’s no catch. Just make sure the two additional tickets are fully refundable,” he said in the clip.

 

Buying seats that you do not intend to fly – to keep other people from buying them – can be conceived as fraud.

 

If the airline detects the fake bookings, the customer could be forced to pay for damages.

 

A similar trick was used by cunning frequent flyers a number of years ago, until airlines caught on and cracked down. Some customers would book refundable first class tickets to keep seats in the premium cabin from being sold.

 

They would then cancel at the last minute, resulting in high availability and so upgrade seats would be available.

 

In another similar trick, a Chinese man bought a first-class plane ticket and rebooked it 300 times to have free meals at the VIP lounge at the airport.

 

The frequent diner purchased the first-class, fully refundable ticket aboard China Eastern Airlines and then re-booked his ticket over and over again to have free meals at the Xi’an International Airport’s VIP lounge.

 

The freeloader was eventually caught but was not ordered to pay anything back to the airline.

 

@ndainternet How to get a “Poor man’s First Class” 👑✈️💰 If you’re flying and can’t afford the first class or business class, you can Save Money when booking airline tickets! 🎫 #airline #ticket #personalfinance #savemoney #firstclass ♬ original sound – NDA