Mother sparks huge debate after showing off her airplane seat hack that divided people

If you want to start a big debate online, sharing your travel tips is a good place to start.

Although most people just want to be nice and share tips on how to get the “best seat” on the plane or get a free upgrade, many vacationers are not happy when others use so-called cheat codes.

When this mother revealed her secret to securing an entire row of seats on an airplane, it is safe to assume that social media users a lot to say about that.

Jess Darrington, operator of the travel tips website “Where is Briggs?”, regularly provides online tips for parents who travel abroad with their young children.

She claims to be the “number one source for family travel with babies and toddlers” and has 371,000 followers on Instagram, so she certainly has a large audience.

That might be why many people took issue with a video she shared on the platform in July in which she demonstrated an “airplane seat hack that sometimes works.”

Frankly, it could cause chaos if all tries – but as Jess specifically said in the title of her post, the key word is “sometimes.”

The mother, who flew around the world with her one-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, explained that there is a certain clever trick that can be used when reserving seats.

She showed how she chose an aisle and window seat in one row for herself and her baby, while doing the same in the row behind for her husband and son.

The idea is that hopefully no one books the middle seat between you. If that works out, you could end up with three seats left between the two of you.

And luckily for Jess and her brood, who had an eleven-hour flight ahead of them, it worked.

She explained: “On our way home from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City we tried this trick and it worked wonderfully!

“We had booked four seats (even the baby got a seat because it’s not so comfortable to sit on your lap for so long) and no one picked the middle seats, so we had two whole rows to ourselves. It was great!”

But her hack for choosing a seat on an airplane was not well received by many social media users (Instagram/@whereisbriggs)

The mother said she tried the airplane trick a few times when she went on vacation with her children and admitted that it didn’t work on every flight.

“It was so nice because we had a little bit of wiggle room,” Jess continued, before warning parents to be careful.

“Families need to understand that this is not a guarantee,” she said, according to the New York Post. “If you want to be sure of a seat for your baby on the plane, you have to buy one.”

However, Jess pointed out that you can always try to negotiate with the passenger sitting between you and your loved one, adding: “I have never met anyone who was frustrated about not having a middle seat anymore.”

However, social media users were not so sure, with some people harshly criticising the mother for her so-called travel hack.

The hack has divided people (TikTok/@where.is.briggs)

One said: “I honestly can’t stand it when people do this and then expect me to move or switch seats,” while another wrote: “Yeah and then you beg and pester the person in the middle to switch seats. Book the seats you want.”

And a third called it a “cheap move.”

But not everyone was unimpressed by Jess’ post, with others saying they had tried the sitting trick too – while others just don’t understand why people would have a problem with it.

One said: “How many creeps are commenting on this post… people would separate a baby and a parent? WTF.”

A second person chimed in: “We do that too! If it works, great! If not, the person in the middle can choose between the window and the aisle. A win-win situation!”

And a third commented: “I’ll be the person in the middle because I never pay for a seat! With children it’s not a problem, they’re usually laid back.”

What do you think?