There is no aviation rule that bans row 13. Airlines choose their own seat numbering, and many skip 13 simply because enough passengers dislike it; some also avoid 17 or 4 for superstitions common in other markets. Letters I and O are usually skipped because they look like 1 and 0 on a boarding pass.
Updated July 2026 · HappyFares
Walk down the aisle counting rows and the numbers do not always behave. Here is why the gaps exist, and why they tell you nothing about the aircraft.
Why do so many airlines skip row 13?
Because it is easier than arguing with passengers. Fear of the number 13 is widespread across parts of Europe and North America, and it shows up in hotels that have no thirteenth floor and buildings that number their lifts around it. Airlines carrying those passengers took the same route: number the rows 11, 12, 14, and nobody complains at boarding.
This has nothing to do with safety or engineering. Aircraft manufacturers supply a cabin layout with a certain number of seat positions, and the airline decides what to call them. Two airlines flying the identical aircraft type can print different row numbers on their seat maps.
Plenty of airlines do not skip 13 at all, and their aircraft are no different. It is a commercial choice about passenger comfort, not a technical requirement, so treat any claim that row 13 is unlucky or unsafe as folklore.
Which other seat numbers get avoided?
Whichever ones the airline’s passengers are uneasy about. The pattern follows the market rather than the aircraft.
- Row 13 is the most familiar case, tied to superstition in much of the Western world.
- Row 17 is avoided by some carriers because in Italy the Roman numeral XVII can be rearranged into VIXI, Latin for I have lived, which reads as a reference to death. Seventeen is treated as unlucky in Brazil as well.
- Row 4, and sometimes 14 and 24, is avoided on some Asian carriers because the word for four sounds close to the word for death in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.
None of this is standardised. An airline may skip one number, several, or none, and may change its convention when it reconfigures a cabin. It can also differ between fleets at the same airline. The only reliable guide is the seat map shown when you pick your seat, because that map reflects the actual layout on the aircraft you are booked on.
Why do seat letters skip I and O?
This one is practical rather than superstitious. On a printed boarding pass or a gate reader display, a capital I is easy to mistake for the numeral 1, and a capital O is easy to mistake for a zero. Dropping both letters removes an entire category of boarding confusion, so most airlines never use them.
You can see the result on a widebody. Letters often run A, B, C on one side, then D, E, F, G in the centre, then H, J, K by the far windows. The jump from H to J is the missing I. That is also why window seats on a widebody are frequently labelled A and K rather than A and something in the middle of the alphabet.
Letters carry meaning as well as identity. On a typical narrowbody with three seats each side, A and F are the windows, C and D are the aisles, and B and E are the middles. Regional jets with two seats each side often keep A, C, D and F for exactly this reason, skipping B and E so the letter still tells you whether you are by the window or the aisle.
Why does the row numbering jump in the middle of the cabin?
Usually because a cabin boundary sits there. When business class occupies the first few rows, economy often starts at a round number such as 10 or 20 rather than continuing from wherever the front cabin ended. It keeps the seat map tidy and leaves room for a future cabin change without renumbering everything behind it.
Airlines also align numbering across aircraft types so that a given row lands in roughly the same part of the cabin on different fleets. That helps crew, catering and ground staff, and it means a gap in the numbers may simply be an artefact of an aircraft that once had more rows in front. Exit rows and galley positions can create their own small breaks.
A missing number does not mean a missing seat. The aircraft still carries every seat it is certified for; only the labels change.
Does a missing row number change anything for your seat choice?
Only in the sense that you should read the seat map rather than count. If you want an exit row, extra legroom or a bassinet position, the number alone will not tell you. Bulkhead rows sit behind a divider, exit rows have their own rules on who may sit there, and the seat immediately in front of an exit often has limited recline or none at all.
The last row is worth checking for the same reason, since it may back onto a galley or lavatory wall. So look at the map, read the small print next to the row, and ignore the mythology attached to any particular number. A row 12 seat directly ahead of an exit will affect your flight far more than whether the airline decided to call the next row 13 or 14.
Common Questions
Is row 13 actually unsafe?
No. Row numbering is cosmetic and set by the airline. Safety comes from the aircraft’s certification, seat strength testing and evacuation requirements, none of which vary by what a row is called. An aircraft with a row 13 and an identical one without it are the same machine.
Do Indian airlines skip row 13?
It varies by airline and sometimes by aircraft type within the same airline, and conventions get revisited when cabins are reconfigured. Rather than rely on a general claim, open the seat map at the time of booking. It shows the actual row numbers for the aircraft scheduled on your flight.
Why does my boarding pass say 32K when the plane has six seats per row?
It probably does not. Letters run further on widebody aircraft, where a row can hold nine or ten seats across. K is a common window letter on those aircraft precisely because I is skipped, so the sequence ends H, J, K instead of H, I, J.
Do any aircraft have no row 1?
Some airlines start numbering at a higher row, often so the seat map lines up with other aircraft types in the fleet or leaves room for a cabin that may be extended later. It is another labelling decision, not a sign that anything is missing from the aircraft.
Does skipping a row cost the airline money?
No. The seat count is unchanged, so the revenue potential of the cabin is identical. Renumbering costs a little effort when seat maps and cabin markings are updated, which is one reason airlines tend to keep whatever convention they adopted when the fleet was configured.
How do I find the window seats before I choose?
On a standard three-by-three narrowbody, A and F are windows and C and D are aisles. On widebodies the outer letters vary with the layout. The seat map at booking is the dependable source, and it marks exits, bulkheads and restricted-recline rows that letters alone will not reveal.
Picking seats for your next trip? Compare flights on HappyFares, then open the seat map at booking so you can see the real row numbers, exits and bulkheads before you choose.
Seat layouts and numbering conventions change when airlines reconfigure cabins. Verify the current seat map with the airline before you select a seat.
