A passenger has demanded reimbursement from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines after discovering their assigned seat was so small that it 'should not have been on sale'.
Mika H, who goes by @finnishmike on X, recently took to the platform to vent his frustration, revealing his airline has been ignoring his refund request for the abnormally small seat for nearly eight months.
The passenger was assigned seat 30A, but noted it was noticeably smaller than usual despite sitting there many times before. He further claimed he had paid specifically for an exit row seat, which typically has extra legroom - only to be allocated a seat '30 per cent smaller than the one on the right'.
In his post, he wrote: 'Almost 8 months ago, KLM said they will reimburse my payment for this seat, which is not supposed to be on sale for passengers. Since then, they've completely ignored me, won't even reply back to emails anymore.'
An accompanying photo uploaded by the passenger reveals a window seat nearly half the size of a standard economy seat, appearing barely large enough for a child. Later in the comments, the traveller noted that the seat was recently introduced for staff travelling between cities. Flight crew on his route confirmed these seats are rarely assigned to regular passengers.
In the comments, dozens were left divided over the passenger's experience. One person quizzed: 'They got you to your destination didn't they?' Another said: 'You should be glad you could get a last place on that flight. What's wrong with that seat? Why shouldn't it be meant for passengers? It's just a seat.'
However, one person pointed out: 'Seems like all the seats in a vertical row are of that narrow nature? Ridiculously narrow.' A second joked: 'What is that? A seat for ants?'
Passengers have long criticised the airline for the tight spacing and lack of comfort in standard economy seats, with many reporting being crammed 'shoulder to shoulder' with strangers. On a Skytrax thread, travellers scored the overall quality of seating in KLM's economy cabins, giving individual scores out of five across five key factors: legroom, recline, width, aisle space and viewing TV.
The airline received an average of just two out of five stars for most categories, including legroom, recline, width and space. One person wrote: 'By far the most uncomfortable seat I have ever experienced on a long haul flight in economy class.'
Another said: 'Seats in the new configuration are an absolute nightmare. On a long flight (17 hours), I really suffered due to the narrow seat. I was sitting shoulder to shoulder with the passenger next to me, and I am not exaggerating!'
A third fumed: 'It seems that the new layout in KLM planes is maximizing space by reducing seat size. To my surprise the legroom seems to be slightly improved. However these are the narrowest seats I have ever sat in. It is impossible for two normal sized adults to sit comfortably (I am not a huge guy 180cm 88kg) but I was pushing into the shoulders of both passengers on either side of me.'
They further warned: 'Watch out for window seats also. If you are seated at a window and the wall between windows happens to be directly beside your seat it will encroach on you and push you into the person seated beside you.'
Daily Mail has contacted KLM for comment.
