PASSENGERS who want to sit next to one another on planes will often have to pay for the privilege, with airlines known to split people up with their random seat allocation.
However, some airlines are worse than others when it comes to seating friends and family apart.
Therefore paying for certain seats, to guarantee a seat next to your travel companion, could be a waste of money, if the chances are that you'll be sat together anyway.
Luckily, new research put together by consumer experts Which? has revealed the airlines that are more likely to sit you away from your friends and family, where paying for certain seats is more necessary.
The consumer champions asked 8,046 of its members and the public about their experience of flying in the past two years to find out who had been split up and who hadn't.
It turns out that the airlines who are most likely to divide passengers are Wizz and Ryanair.
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Of those who flew with Ryanair and didn't pay for a seat, only 66 per cent were seated together, while for Wizz, only 61 per cent of their passengers were sat next to their travel companions.
Therefore, paying for a seat with both of those airlines is more necessary for passengers who want to guarantee that they'll be sat together.
However, it turns out that most major airlines don't divide up their passengers, even if they haven't paid to sit next to each other.
As many as 90 per cent of Jet2 passengers ended up sitting together without having to pay extra for their seats, while that number rose to 93 per cent for easyJet.
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Better still were British Airways, who put 94 per cent of their passengers together, even if they hadn't paid any extra.
While that doesn't guarantee that passengers will be sat with their friends or family members, it does mean there's a pretty good chance.
Therefore, it might be worth avoiding the extra seat fees and hoping that you'll end up sat together, knowing that the odds are in your favour.
Which? said: "In our recent survey of the best and worst airlines, 94 per cent of BA customers who didn’t pay for seat selection told us they ended up seated with their travel companions anyway.
"In fact, we found that most major airlines will automatically seat you with the people you booked with. For easyJet the figure was 93 per cent and for Jet2 90 per cent."
For those who don't want to pay, but would like to improve their chances of being sat together, there are methods they can use.
Travel expert Lucas Chesterton explained that passengers should board the plane last and then they can pick any spot they like.
In a video on Tiktok, he said: "When I walk on the flight, I will look for two or three seats by themself and I'll take those seats and get a row to myself."
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Meanwhile, travel experts revealed several methods they have used to get themselves a free row.
And a man was told he was "creepy" for his method for keeping the seats next to him empty.
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