Here's What Those Triangle Stickers Above Airplane Windows Are Really For

Some flyers don't really think about how a plane works and what each feature does or means. They just sit down, buckle up, and get to where they are going. Others, however, enjoy learning all the secrets and fascinating facts about a plane. One such secret you may have wondered about is the little black or red triangle stickers over the windows next to only four different window seats in a commercial aircraft. To be fair, you may not have noticed the stickers at all, tiny as they are, but they serve an important purpose. There are two on each side of the plane, and if you look out of those specific windows, you'll see the aircraft's wings. These stickers are there so flight attendants and pilots know exactly what window they should go to for the best view of the plane's wings and don't have to waste time peeking out of every window in the center of the aircraft. The crew may need to do this to check that everything is in order or to see if there is ice buildup or other issues. 

These little stickers may also be useful if you're boarding a plane with open seating. If you're worried about motion sickness on a plane, sitting over the wing is a good idea, as those seats are likely to experience the least movement during turbulence. If turbulence is an issue for you when you fly, you may also want to try the game-changing Fly Calmly app. 

There is one sticker over the window seat that's at the front of each wing and one over the seat that offers a good view of the back, and these seats have a pretty fun nickname — William Shatner's Seat. It's called this because of the classic 1963 episode of the TV series "The Twilight Zone," called "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." In the episode, Shatner plays a man who has recently gone through a mental health episode and thinks he sees a gremlin outside the plane window right above the wing, but no one else believes him. This is also a great seat to pick if you like to take photos out the window, because you'll be able to get a great shot of the land below with the wing in the frame. 

If you're sitting at a window seat (the best seat for a red-eye flight or a nap) on your next flight, while looking around for the triangle wing stickers, another thing you may notice is the tiny hole in the bottom of all the windows. However, you don't have to worry about the hole exposing you to the air outside. Plane windows have three panes, and the hole is only in the middle one. It's there to keep the air pressure inside the cabin steady as it changes outside the plane. Another thing you may notice if you're looking out over the wing in the seats above it is that the wings can sometimes bend. You can put your mind at ease with this as well, as they're actually designed to be flexible and bend so that they don't break.