People Are Just Realising Why There’s A Tiny Black Triangle Above Some Plane Windows, And I Had No Idea

Is that true? What is a “Shatner seat”?

On TikTok, a flight attendant for Cebu Pacific, Henny Joyce Lim, agreed. 

“Passengers sitting next to the triangles get the best view of the wings,” she added.

“If the flight crew need to check the wings, these triangles let them know the best vantage points for the slats and flaps outside.” 

In other words, if something seems to be wrong with the wings of the plane, either mid-flight or on the runway, this is the vantage point from which staff assess the situation. It can also help to check for ice on the wings.

The pro suggested picking seats beneath these tiny triangular stickers if you get the option to select your row on board, because the scenery it offers is stunning. 

She also advised that “those triangle-marked seats are either at number 10 or at 18, but it still depends on the type of aircraft one is travelling in.” 

The area is sometimes nicknamed the William Shatner seat because of the actor’s scene in The Twilight Zone – the episode “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet”, to be specific. 

In this scene, his character saw something suspicious on the wing of the plane, leading to the iconic line: “There’s something on the wing!”.

While the premise is pretty terrifying, his character’s clear view could have only come from one seat: the black triangle zone.