• Back-row seats on low-cost airlines have an especially bad reputation. 
• I was assigned a seat in the back of a plane and it turned out to be as bad as some people say.
• I've learned that my comfort is worth paying a few extra dollars for.

I've taken dozens of flights in the past year alone and most of my experiences have been great. Things were different on a recent flight when I ended up at the back of the plane.

As Insider's travel reporter in Singapore, and as an avid explorer in my free time, I fly a lot — and, most of the time, on budget airlines. As a frequent flyer, I try to save money — especially on short-haul flights — so I often book the cheapest tickets possible.

Low-fare tickets typically come with just the seat, and there are no add-ons like check-in baggage, pre-booked seats, or in-flight meals. Despite this, I've found myself having more positive experiences than negative ones flying bare-bones.

Even when the flight wasn't a great experience overall, the issues I've encountered have been pretty minor — nothing more than having to pay for additional baggage or the routine turbulence that might come up regardless of the airline.

But on one recent flight from Vietnam to Singapore, I was assigned a seat in the back row of the plane for the first time. It turned out to be one of the worst flights of my life.

I flew on a regional budget airline in late April from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to Singapore. Despite traveling with friends, we were assigned completely different seats. They were given seats in row eight, while I had an aisle seat at the back of the plane in row 30. 

Back-row seats have a bad reputation among passengers and flight crews alike. But a back-row seat can have one advantage: Often, these passengers are the first to board. 

Unfortunately, on this particular flight, dozens of people had already boarded before me — from passengers traveling with children or the elderly, to front-row passengers and those who bought the airline's priority-boarding pass. So this particular advantage of sitting in the back was quickly dashed.

Right off the bat, sitting in the last row of the plane was uncomfortable, thanks to the passengers who rummaged for suitcase space right above my head.

Flights from Vietnam's biggest city to Singapore are often fully booked, and my flight back home was no exception. 

This meant that the overhead compartments were full of suitcases and large plastic bags filled with clothing. A handful of passengers spent several minutes rummaging through the last few compartments above me for space, which was an uncomfortable experience, to say the least.

Fortunately, due to the lack of space, the airline checked in my suitcase for free, and I had few carry-on items. I didn't have to compete with other passengers to stow my belongings. 

While flight routes around Southeast Asia can often be turbulent, sitting in the back row made it feel much worse.

As the plane sped down the runway, I could feel it skidding on the tarmac, zig-zagging before taking off. I often sat in the first few rows of the plane, or near the wings, and the shaking of the plane never felt this amplified. 

An Insider article previously reported that the back of the plane is the worst for turbulence, and from my experience, that's definitely the case. Even in the air, whenever the plane passed through clouds, I could feel my seat and the compartments above me shaking. 

Sitting in the back row can also be noisy at times, thanks to the auxiliary power units near the rear that makes a lot of noise.

The worst part of a back-row seat is sitting behind and next to a toilet — which meant people were constantly walking beside me.

Because I had an aisle seat, I witnessed passengers coming in and out of the bathroom. It was pretty noisy too, with the sounds of the toilet flushing and the door slamming shut. 

The worst part of sitting near the bathroom was the pungent smells from the toilet wafting over to my seat from time to time. While flight staff on airlines work hard to keep bathrooms as clean as possible, one study found that the toilet's flush button alone has 265 bacteria colonies forming units per square inch, which means that it can still be pretty dirty. This was something I couldn't shake from my mind in the back-row seat.

Unlike most seats on the plane, the back-row seats couldn't recline, so legroom was limited.

While the seats in front of me could recline, mine was backed up against a wall, so it didn't have a recline button. The passenger in front of me reclined his seat halfway through the flight — and rightfully so — but it made having dinner on the flight uncomfortable because of the tight space. 

What put the cherry on top for me was getting my dress stained by instant noodles, thanks to a flight attendant who was collecting food from the passengers beside me. But with the turbulence and limited space for moving around, I couldn't blame her — it was gravity, after all.

My saving grace was that it was just a two-and-half-hour flight, and I was back home in no time. I learned my lesson and will now book a seat ahead of time.

I've flown with this airline dozens of times, and every time my experience has been terrific — especially when factoring in the cheap prices. I chalk my one and only negative experience to the back-row seat, which truly deserves its bad reputation. 

Overall, I learned that the few dollars I saved flying bare-bones weren't worth all the hassle. It would have cost me as little as 7 Singapore dollars, or about $5.20, to pre-book a seat. Now I'd pay more money to secure a guaranteed seat because I've realized that my comfort is worth it. 

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