Frankie Muniz is just like Us with how he hates to be stuck in the middle — the middle seat on an airplane, that is.
“People come up to me my whole life, and everybody thinks they’re so funny. [They say], ‘Put Frankie in the middle. Put him in the middle,’” Muniz, 38, joked to Us Weekly exclusively while promoting his #NotInTheMiddle campaign with Spirit Airlines. “I always say to them, kind of joking, I go, ‘A photo with me on the side is really rare.’”
The Malcolm in the Middle alum added that he’s “seen a fair number” of social media posts capturing him when he’s “stuck in the middle seat” on an airplane. “They go, ‘I saw Frankie Muniz and he was in the middle,’” he recalled with a laugh.
Now, Muniz doesn’t have to worry about being in the middle seat when flying Spirit. With the airline’s Go Comfy travel option, Muniz can enjoy some extra elbow room with a guaranteed blocked middle seat — as well as one checked and one carry-on bag, priority boarding, snack and non-alcoholic beverage.
After all, who wants to be in the middle? Not Muniz. “I don’t even know who gets the armrest when you’re in the middle. Do you get both of them? Do you get none of them?” he wondered. “And I’m not the person to take them. So I like having a window or aisle guaranteed, no one in the middle seat. I get both no matter what seat I’m in.”
For now, the Dancing With the Stars alum is still figuring out whether his identity aligns more with the aisle or window seat on an aircraft. “My whole life, I’ve always just picked the window,” he said. “But lately, I’ve been realizing, I actually think I like the aisle for the freedom to not have to ask somebody to get up. But I don’t know, I go back and forth. But now I got two good options, I got the window or the aisle without worrying about being in the middle.”
Muniz noted that the #NotInTheMiddle campaign with Spirit “does fit” how people know him: as middle child Malcolm Wilkerson from the Fox sitcom, which aired from 2000 to 2006.
When asked what seat Malcolm would have been given while traveling with his family members, Muniz quipped to Us, “I think I know what seat he would probably be stuck with, but if he’s flying on Spirit Go Comfy he doesn’t have to worry about it.”