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An airline passenger went viral after discovering she booked the most awkward seat on a plane despite thinking she booked a great position in the cabin for herself “as a treat”.

TikTok user Jess Smith went viral in July after posting a video of her sitting on an unspecified airline plane, stating that she booked the first row as a treat, but then realised she, in fact, bagged one of the most awkward positions on the plane.

Smith filmed herself sitting in her seat, looking uncomfortable, before flipping her camera to reveal she was facing sideways and seated in front of the entire plane, with all other passengers facing towards her.

The TikToker captioned her video, which has now amassed over 15.8 million views on the app, saying that she was “never going to recover” from this incident.

The viral moment sent other users into a frenzy, asking the user which airline this was so they could avoid this anxiety-inducing experience of an entire flight looking towards them.

Some users were baffled that this seat option even existed, saying that those seats are usually where the flight attendants will sit during take-off and landing.

“I would legit ask to get off and cancel my ticket. My anxiety could never,” one user wrote, while another said it would be a great opportunity to face their fears.

“I lowkey wanna do this just as exposure therapy. Like, there is literally NO choice but to face it & get through it,” they said.

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Others questioned how the experience would be for people who are already nervous flyers.

“This would be my WORST NIGHTMARE considering I cry and hyperventilate during turbulence, but at least I do it into a blanket and facing the window LMAO so only the person next to me knows,” one TikToker commented.

“I think it’s just as awkward for the people in the front,” another said, pointing out that those in the first row facing the front of the plane would have no choice but to stare at the person in the rear-facing seat the entire flight.

A follow-up video a few months later showed Smith on another flight, but this time deep into the middle rows of the plane, saying that she was now “sleeping soundly knowing this time we aren’t facing the entire plane”.

“Update: we have now recovered,” she added.

It was unclear what airline Smith was flying with during her rear-facing seat experience, but this is not the first time someone has sparked commentary about seats awkwardly facing other passengers.

Another TikToker named Megan Homme went viral last year for a similar incident, showing her sitting face-to-face with other passengers on a plane.

"I’ve never seen this on a flight before," Homme wrote. "Seats facing each other??"

She flipped her camera to show her feet almost touching that of the passenger in front of her as she was facing directly towards them.

Other TikTok users have shared their awkward rear-facing seat experiences, such as former Real Madrid footballer and his wife, Real Housewives of Dubai star Caroline Stanbury, who also made a similar mistake as Smith back in February.

“When your assistant booked 1A [and] 1B and thought they were the best seats on the plane,” the video text said, before flipping the camera to reveal they were also facing opposite the entirety of the flight.

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

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