HOUSTON — Gone are the days of paying a flat fee for an airline ticket, not paying extra for bags or having to shell out extra to not sit next to the bathroom.
Now, buying a ticket means choosing your own seat and paying for the privilege. But travel experts on social media are sharing how to get a better seat without paying anything extra. It’s called check-in chicken.
The Washington Post explained how it can work. Basically it involves waiting just long enough to check-in for your flight that the airline is forced to automatically assign you a better seat. During the check-in process some airlines assign the worst seats to the people who check-in first in the hopes they will cave and buy a better seat.
Once it has run out of the least desirable seats the airline has to assign people checking-in the better options. This only works if the flight is nearly full. But you want to be careful, if the flight is overbooked and you wait too long, you can get bumped to another flight.
If you are too scared to play chicken, the Post explains there is another option: Musical chairs. That involves shelling out the extra money for an assigned seat and checking in right away. Then, keep an eye on the online seating map. If better seats pop up that are not in your fare class you can switch for no extra fees.