The Lost Boarding Pass
100 passengers board a plane with 100 assigned seats. The first passenger lost his ticket and sits in a uniformly random seat. Each subsequent passenger sits in their own seat if it is available, otherwise in a uniformly random empty seat. What is the probability the last passenger sits in their own assigned seat? Express as a fraction.
Related problems & prerequisites
Worth solving first
- Pólya's Urn 8.0/10
- All in a Semicircle 6.0/10
- Two Children 5.0/10
Source: Classic airline-seating probability puzzle in wide circulation; no traceable original source. Statement written for AxiomIQ.