Usually, the flight is the least eventful part of your trip—if you’re lucky.
While there’s always a chance that an in-flight incident can occur, most of the time, the flight to your destination is simply some time when you can relax, watch a movie, read a book, or try to get a little sleep.
However, there’s always a chance, no matter how small, that something memorable and incredible happens on your flight. That’s what recently happened to TikTok user Aurélie Bouti (@aureliestoryy) during a recent flight.
What Happened On This Flight?
In a video with over 1.2 million views, Bouti shows herself sitting on a flight.
“PILOT: ‘look out your window if you’re seated on the left side of the plane,’” she writes in the text overlaying the video.
“Me: why is no one looking?” the overlay text continues. “Ok let’s see what’s happening.”
Eventually, Bouti decides to look out of the window—and sees something amazing. Outside of her window are streaks of bright green light dancing in the sky. This is aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights.
How Common Is This?
For context, the Northern Lights are not an everyday occurrence. According to Space.com, the Northern Lights happen when charged particles from the Sun travel through space and collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere near the North Pole. As these gases are energized, they glow, producing light that can range from green to red to purple and blue. The result is a series of colorful waves of shimmering light.
Seeing the Northern Lights on a flight is not an everyday experience. As the Northern Lights are generally only seen in the northernmost points of the world, one’s ability to see them in a plane is relatively limited.
If one really wants to view the Northern Lights from outside the window of their flight, The Points Guy has some suggestions.
What Should You Do If You Want To See The Northern Lights From A Plane?
First, the Northern Lights are most common around the Arctic Circle. Therefore, you’re more likely to see them if your flight takes you far north. For example, routes that go over northern Canada, Alaska, Iceland, or Scandinavia may be more likely to view the Northern Lights.
Second, you should book a flight at night. The Northern Lights are near impossible to see during the day. Consequently, a night flight massively increases the likelihood that one will see the Northern Lights.
On this topic, it’s beneficial to travel in winter months. The simple reason is that the nighttime is longer in winter. For example, much of Scandinavia can have mere hours of sunlight in winter, with some having no sunlight whatsoever. By traveling in winter, you’ll spend more time in the night. Thus, the probability of you encountering the Northern Lights increases.
Commenters Are Amazed
In the comments section, users were dazzled by Bouti’s video.
“I never understand why people close their windows on planes. The views are beautiful,” wrote a user.
“if your not looking out the window already, you shouldn’t be in a window seat!” exclaimed another.
“this happened to me once!” recalled a third. “they turned all of the lights off inside the plane so we could see better, and everyone took turns getting up on the other side to see them.”
BroBible reached out to Bouti via Instagram direct message.