Fasten your seat belts. Today, we have something rare.
Somehow, multiple aspects of our pop culture's all-consuming and relentless social media banality have collided to provide something that's actually useful.
What do you get when you combine TikTok, a pilot's uniform, a cat, and a sexy contestant from The Bachelor who's known for posting thirst traps?
Besides something that might as well have been formulated in a laboratory to go viral, you get a short video explainer about how airline turbulence affects various seating locations on a typical aircraft, and helpful information about where to sit if you want to experience the least turbulence.
The video's star, who appeared on the Australian version of the reality show, works as a commercial airline pilot Down Under—so there is some actual expertise to these posts. They were uploaded in the spring but for some reason have been discovered upon by the media in Ireland and the United Kingdom this summer, and now his seating advice is cruising toward three quarters of a million views. (If the video doesn't load below, click here to watch it on TikTok's website.)
@jimmy_nicholson Best place to sit on a plane if you hate turbulence #pilot #piloto #pilotsoftiktok #turbulence ? original sound - Jimmy Nicholson
The attention-seeking instructor, Jimmy Nicholson, isn't well-known in the United States, but he's better known elsewhere for serving as the "rose hander-outer" (as his beefcake-serving Instagram account puts it) on the ninth season of The Bachelor Australia in 2021.
Feline-based cabin orientation isn't the only flying advice that Nicholson is offering these days. His TikTok account has become a place for plenty of other eye-catching—er, we mean educational and informative—video tips about traveling the skies, including vignettes about the essential items that pilots pack and whether turbulence is a cause for concern. (Of course, for that last one, he used a cat as a prop again.)
Silly? Yes? Is TikTok otherwise contributing to the collapse of civilized society? Probably. But good advice is good advice.
And you're much more likely to remember which airline seat you should reserve if it comes in a package like this.
So the next time you wonder which seat to buy when you fly, think of the hot pilot with the cat on TikTok. After that, it's up to you if you feel shame.
