By ESTHER MARSHALL

Published: 11:44 BST, 22 April 2025 | Updated: 11:51 BST, 22 April 2025

A travel expert has shared a Ryanair seat hack which he says can bag you extra legroom for free. 

Rob Adcock (@robdidatiktok) revealed the little-known hack in his video on his TikTok account. 

The travel expert says: ‘I think this might be a way of getting a free upgrade on Ryanair.’ 

When passengers check in for their Ryanair flight, Rob says they should select the free allocated seat option. 

He says: ‘Just before the flight, go back [on to the app] and click “manage” in the top corner then click “change”.’

Rob demonstrates how he does this on the Ryanair app, clicking the ‘change’ option next to seat selection. 

The travel expert explains: ‘Then it shows you a list of all the seats that are empty on the flight.’ 

Empty seats on the aircraft are marked in blue on the Ryanair app while occupied chairs are shown with a cross on them. 

A travel expert has shared a Ryanair seat hack which he says can bag you extra legroom for free Empty seats on the aircraft are marked in blue on the Ryanair app while occupied chairs are shown with a cross on them

A travel expert has shared a Ryanair seat hack which he says can bag you extra legroom for free. Empty seats on the aircraft are marked in blue on the Ryanair app while occupied chairs are shown with a cross on them

Rob warns: ‘Do not switch your seat.’ 

The travel expert then shows himself on the flight and reveals: ‘What I do is I find a couple of seats where there’s no one in them. Ideally extra legroom towards the front of the plane and brazenly just go and sit in it. 

‘I’ve been doing it for ages and the flight attendant has never asked me for my seat number yet.’ 

However, the travel expert does then issue an update on the hack to warn passengers that there are a few rows they might want to avoid. 

Rob explains: ‘If you sit in the front six rows, so the premium seats right at the very start, I’ve noticed that [sometimes] they’ve gone round and counted the seats to see how many people should be sitting there.’ 

He reveals that the flight attendants have then asked passengers sitting there to share their seat number. 

The travel expert warns: ‘So if you want to do this without any problems whatsoever, go after the sixth row.’ 

Some TikTok users agreed that Rob’s idea was a great hack. ‘Conradoatsea’ wrote: ‘Best hack ever. Always sit on the emergency exits.’ 

The travel expert then shows himself on the flight and reveals: 'What I do is I find a couple of seats where there's no one in them. Ideally extra legroom towards the front of the plane and brazenly just go and sit in it'

The travel expert then shows himself on the flight and reveals: ‘What I do is I find a couple of seats where there’s no one in them. Ideally extra legroom towards the front of the plane and brazenly just go and sit in it’

However, one user who said they work for Ryanair said the empty seats are usually left to ensure the plane has the ‘correct numbers’ onboard for ‘weight and balance’. 

This means passengers might be moved if they are sitting in a different seat to the one they were allocated.  

One commenter shared another hack, saying: ‘I usually check in two-four hours before the flight. Mostly paid seats are left and system has to allocate you somewhere. I usually end up on extra legroom seats.’ 

Another person agreed adding: ‘Just wait to check in until like four-six hours beforehand and you’re more likely to get a window or aisle seat.’ 

Ryanair recently launched a new ‘Prime’ membership yearly subscription service which offers access to monthly member-exclusive seat sales for £66. 

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Traveller reveals easy hack to get extra legroom on Ryanair flight for FREE



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