The trick that could land you the best seat on the plane (but there’s a catch)
A new travel trend called “check-in chicken” promises the best seat on a plane, but it isn’t without its risks.
By playing check-in chicken, a passenger leaves it to the very last minute until checking into a flight. Doing so, the theory goes, gives you the best chance of being automatically allocated a good seat on the plane, such as the emergency exit or front-row seats which typically have extra legroom.
The trend, popularised on social media sites like TikTok, follows in the wake of “rawdogging” (enduring a flight without any visual stimuli whatsoever), “gate lice” (hovering around the desk at the airport gate to board the plane first), and “skiplagging” (booking cheaper layover flights and slipping out at the stopover airport).
However, check-in chicken could backfire on the plane passenger, and might even mean you end up without a seat at all. Here’s everything you need to know about the travel trend, and the risks involved.
What is check-in chicken?
Check-in chicken is a travel trend where passengers check into a flight as late as possible. Doing so, the theory goes, means you have a better chance of being automatically allocated a superior seat.
The founding principle behind the trend is the belief – vehemently denied by many low-cost airlines in the past – that some airlines automatically allocate the worst seats on planes in order to encourage passengers to pay for better ones.
Chelsea Dickenson, who runs the website Cheap Holiday Expert, says that some low-cost airlines “actively split up people who have booked together if they opt to ‘skip’ seat selection which will cost you money.
“In fact, not only will they split you up, but they will often put at least one of you in a ‘bad’ seat, which is often a middle seat or by the toilets at the back of the plane. Or, they’ll simply place you far away from each other.
“For solo travellers, it’s likely you’ll get a middle seat in a less desirable location, such as not near the front.”
Applying this logic, the idea is that you have a better chance of swerving a less desirable middle seat during automatic seat allocation if you check in as late as possible.
Does it work?
Dickenson says: “I’ve been playing check-in chicken for years – even before I knew it had a fun name – and it’s got a pretty high success rate.
“I’d say it’s worked for me about nine times so far. The key thing is to not leave it too last minute. What I do is check the seat plan throughout the day before my flight, and when I’m happy with the seat selection left, that’s when I check in.”
This writer can also confirm that checking in late can yield results. On a recent flight from Gatwick to Rome, I checked in at the last-minute and was rewarded with a front-row seat, with ample legroom and early access to the refreshments trolley.
What are the risks?
However, playing check-in chicken isn’t a sure-fire way of securing the best seats on the flight. One permutation is that your plane won’t be sold out, meaning the best seats on the flight could be left unfilled.
Another consideration is that you are unlikely to be seated next to your friends and family. The only way to guarantee this, with certain airlines, is to pay – although sometimes you will get lucky and be seated alongside your travelling companions.
The biggest risk is that your flight is overbooked, and you could miss out on having a seat on the flight at all. Many planes overbook their flights – Wizz and Ryanair have an average load factor of around 94 per cent – so this isn’t impossible, although if you go to the check-in desk at the airport you might still be able to get a seat on the plane if there are no-shows (which is often the case).
