A picture of a forbidden plane seat has attracted huge attention online after a baffled passenger took to Facebook to ask why the seat next to him was mysteriously off limits.
The middle seat in the back row of a Croatia Airlines Airbus A220-300 (seat 31E) has a strict message stitched into the fabric: “Do not occupy this seat”.
The passenger said that a flight attendant on board informed him there was no seatbelt.
“Made no sense for me because the mounting for the belt was there. Should have been easier to fix a seatbelt than do that stitching work,” he wrote.
Social media users began speculating the reason for the empty seat, suggesting it could be an extra seat for cabin crew or other airline workers, or to allow more space for passengers who require it.
“Hopefully someone will know what this is about because I’ve never seen that,” wrote one person.
“Can’t wait for someone to explain,” agreed another.
“I need to know the answer,” stated a third.
The Croatia Airlines seating map online simply shows a blank space where 31E would be located.
It turns out, the seat cannot be used due to safety regulations.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus told Croatian outlet AvioRadar in August that only 149 seats could be used because if the 150th seat were to be occupied, the aircraft would need two additional over-wing exits.
According to the seating map, the aircraft also skips row 13.
This is common in the industry as some cultures consider the number unlucky. Row 17 is another one you may notice is skipped on some planes.
German airline Lufthansa, which doesn’t have rows 13 and 17, has previously explained it is done to respect people with superstitions.
“That way nobody who thinks that the number 13 is unlucky has to sit in that row,” the airline said.
When 17 is written as the Roman numeral XVII, its anagram is VIXI — which roughly translates to “I have lived” in Latin, suggesting “my life is over”.
“In some countries, for example Italy and Brazil, the typical unlucky number is 17 and not 13,” Lufthansa said.
