Is triskaedekiphobia (fear of the number 13) the reason commercial planes normally do not have a row 13?
Fear of number 13 is known as Triskaidekaphobia.

I randomly entered some flight numbers on SeatGuru and found that this one has row 13 (aircraft is B737):



In this case, there is no 13th row:



However, in this case, several row numbers (12, 13, 14) are skipped to adjust galleys and lavatories. This could be that they were added later or can be removed in future to add more rows.





The bottom line is that regardless of what you name it, there remains a 13th row. If a plane is about to crash (God forbid) I would be worried about being on the plane, rather than just the seat number. There are several studies that safest seats are in the back. So, rows 1-12 may not be as unlucky as row 13.

If you have 12 million dollars and I can give you one million more1, would you not take it?

In several parts of the world 13 is a lucky number.



1Trust me, I will not do it, even if I have that much money.