THERE's nothing worse than booking a window seat on a plane, only to sit down and realise there's just a wall there.
It's a problem that lots of passengers have encountered, with some even paying extra for the view, only to be disappointed.
That's exactly what happened to Anirudh Mittal in February, when he specifically picked a seat that would give him a great view over London.
However, when he came to sit down, he realised that his "window seat" was not as advertised.
He shared a picture of his seat on X, formerly known as Twitter, and wrote: "I paid extra for a right side window seat because it's supposed to be beautiful when you land into Heathrow.
"British Airways, where's my window?"
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Another X user, Kalie Marsch, had a similar problem, which she also shared online, simply writing: "I've made a terrible, terrible, terrible mistake."
Some passengers assume that the windowless seats are nothing more than a spiteful move from the airline, but it turns out their existence is for much more practical reasons.
Popular travel company and airline TUI revealed exactly why some people end up sitting next to walls when they're expecting windows in a video on one of their Tiktok accounts (@tui.benelux).
They showed footage of one of the seats and asked: "Do you know why some of our aircraft have a windowless window seat?
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"That's the spot where the air conditioners are located."
It turns out that a window simply can't be put in those places because important pipework is stored behind the wall instead.
That fact was backed up by Nicky Kelvin, Head of The Points Guy UK.
He told Mail Online: ‘They’re often due to the manufacturer using that space to feed through certain avionics (aviation electronics) or essential components such as air-conditioning ducts."
However, knowing why they're there doesn't stop passengers from sitting in those seats.
There are ways people can make an educated guess whether or not they'll be sat in one of the windowless spaces.
When picking seats on board the aircraft, passengers are often shown a seat map.
This, as well as other online research, is the best way to make sure you get the view you're hoping for on your flight.
Travel experts Lonely Planet explained: "Check the airline seat map when booking. Then check it again when you’ve booked — sometimes the diagrams are different in the airline’s 'manage booking' system than in its reservation systems.
"Run a quick web search for your airline and the kind of aircraft listed on your booking and keep gardening your reservation until it’s time to check in. Do a final check… and cross your fingers!"
Meanwhile, the Points Guy recommended another resource that offers in-depth maps of the inside of plane cabins, as well as providing insight into good and bad seats.
They wrote: "Most passengers have to rely on a tool that's very popular among frequent travelers: SeatGuru.
"This website allows you to search for the seat map of each individual airplane type on each airline.
"In addition to showing you standard information like the number of seats, their width and pitch, travellers can also highlight problems with individual seats."
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Meanwhile, this is a dangerous mistake lots of passengers make when flying in the window seats.
And this is who is in charge of the window shade on planes.
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