“In some cultures, the number 13 is considered unlucky,” the airline explains. “That is why there is no row 13 in planes, because we respect the superstition. “That way nobody who thinks that the number 13 is unlucky has to sit in that row.”

In the airline industry, the number 13 is most famously known for its absence due to widespread triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13. To cater to superstitious passengers who believe the number brings bad luck, many major international airlines—including Lufthansa, Air France, Iberia, KLM, and Ryanair—completely skip row 13 in their seating configurations, moving directly from row 12 to row 14. This practice is so common that a passenger walking through the cabin of a Boeing or Airbus might not even notice the jump unless they are looking for it. In 2026, while aviation is a field built on rigorous science and engineering, the "missing row 13" persists as a psychological concession to ensure passenger comfort. Some airlines take this further; for example, several Middle Eastern and Asian carriers may also skip row 4 (unlucky in some East Asian cultures) or row 17 (unlucky in Italy). For an airline, the cost of re-labeling rows is negligible compared to the potential loss of revenue from a seat that a nervous flier might refuse to occupy.