These are the plane seats to avoid on Ryanair, easyJet and BA flights, according to travellers

Anyone who’s flown Ryanair recently knows the lengths they go to to try and make you pay extra to reserve a specific seat.

If you fly in a group now, you’ll sometimes all be split up – unless you fork out to sit together. Even when you’re flying solo most people have a preference of sitting by the window or in the aisle (no one would pick the middle seat, surely).

But if you’re a window seat person and do decide to dip into your pocket to get a nice view, be careful – there are three “window” seats on every Ryanair plane which do not have a window.

Avoid these three seats

If you’re sat in 11A, 11F or 12F, instead of a lovely vista over Europe you will be presented with nothing more than a plastic wall panel, The Telegraph‘s digital travel editor Oliver Smith warns.

Ryanair does warn you with a little pop-up box when you go to select that seat on its website, but that hasn’t stopped a number travellers from falling foul of The Panel of Disappointment (that’s what we’re calling it now).

You get the picture. There are dozens more stunning photos just like these on Twitter and Instagram from irritated customers demanding a refund – many using the hashtag #wheresmywindow. However, Ryanair is not the only airline where this happens. In fact, most major airlines have this issue, and not just the budget ones.

On easyJet, you want to avoid seat 31A on the Airbus A320 aircraft, and 26A and 26F on the A319.

There are three 'window' seats on every Ryanair plane which do not have a window. Picture: TSPL

On British Airways it’s 70A and 70K on its standard A380, and a few seats in Club are also windowless: 12A, 12K, 50A and 50K.

Norwegian, one of the cheapest long-haul airlines, flies Boeing 737s with no windows at seats 10A, 11A and 11F.

And on American Airlines stay away from 12A and 12F if you want a nice view of the States from your seat.

Thankfully, there’s an easy way to combat the problem – if you visit SeatGuru you can see the actual view from your seat, and make sure not to pick the wrong one. Unfortunately for all those who have already been caught out, airlines are under no obligation to refund you even if you paid specifically for a window seat.

This article first featured on our sister site the i.