Passenger bemused upon boarding plane to find her allocated seat doesn't exist

A passenger who boarded a low-cost Indonesian airline only to find the seat on her boarding pass was non-existent has shared her tale of bewilderment.

Satwika Ika, who was flying with Lion Air on a ￡24-ticket from the city of Palembang to Jakarta, was issued seat number 35F but upon reaching the back of the plane discovered that the last row was 34, after which the toilet was located.

Ika claims that a family travelling with a young child was left in the same situation, having also been issued a boarding pass for row 35.

In a Facebook post which was reportedly shared more than 10,000 times, Ika says that she alerted flight attendants to the mistake and was eventually given a spare seat in the middle of the plane after everyone else had finished boarding.

She described these flight attendants as being “rude” and said they “lacked manners”. After the post went viral, Lion Air issued Ika with an apology and provided an explanation.

The mix-up resulted from the airline’s decision to swap a plane that was due to operate the flight (a Boeing 737-900ER housing 39 rows) with the smaller Boeing 737-800NG, which has 34 rows, in a bid to avoid a potential flight delay, according to Lion Air's corporate communications officer Danang Mandala Prihantoro.

Ika and the other passengers affected had purchased their tickets before the switch was made.

Lion Air, which flies to 126 destinations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and China, is the second largest low-cost carrier in south-east Asia (after Indonesia’s AirAsia), and its growing fast. Currently, it has 247 aircraft on order, to add to its current stock of 114.

Last year, Boeing delivered its first ever 737 Max to Lion Air, making it the largest single buyer of the manufacturer’s new super efficient jetliner. In November 2011, Lion Air placed a record order with Boeing, worth $22billion, surpassing Emirates’ previous high, for some 29 737-900s and 201 new 737 Maxs. It also has orders placed with Airbus for A330-900neos.

Founded in 1999, in the last eight years Lion Air has nearly doubled the number of seats it operates on its routes, from 25.1million to 48.7million at last count. The average flying time between its destinations is just over an hour and a half.  

For nearly a decade it was banned by the EU from flying into European airspace, deemed unsafe following a poor safety record since 2007, until the ban was lifted on June 16, 2016.

This year the carrier gained a top safety ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and was upgraded to the top safety tier by AirlineRatings.com, the global airline rating agency.