Is 'Check-In Chicken' The Ultimate Secret For Better Seat Selection On A Plane?

As more airlines adopt the practice of charging for seat selection, travelers are increasingly faced with a check-in dilemma: Pay extra to secure a good seat, or wait until the last-minute check-in to score a prized position on the plane? Airlines know passengers will pay a premium to sit where they want — from the coveted aisle seats of frequent travelers to the dreaded middle seats or, worse, windowless "window seats" some have had the misfortune to fly in. 

This has led to the viral term "check-in chicken" — the practice of waiting until the last minute to check in, gambling that you will be assigned a better seat than if you had paid for one. The theory is that airlines need to fill all the seats on the plane, and if no one else is willing to pay the premium price tag on high-value seats ahead of time, they'll have to fill them with unassigned passengers who check in later.

Travel influencer Chelsea of @HolidayExpert on Instagram claims to have scored 10 premium seats this way. In her video, she shows how she waited until just hours before a Jet2 flight to bag a premium seat. "2 C! That does not surprise me in the slightest, but still a bloody great seat! I think we just proved that check-in chicken does work for Jet2 as well." Fans of check-in chicken say it's the ultimate hack to getting a better seat at no extra cost. But is that really true? The answer is: It depends — mostly on your travel preferences and the airline you are flying. Like any gamble, you win some, you lose some. In the end, the house — or the airline — always wins.

Check-in chicken turns seat selection into a game of finding loopholes in ever-evolving airline policies — and every carrier is different. So, can check-in chicken beat the plane's seating algorithm? Maybe.

First, assess your risk. Do you need to sit next to your kids, for example? Then you're better off paying the extra fee to guarantee seats together. Are you extra tall and would find a cramped seat intolerable? Again, better to secure those extra inches. Perhaps you're on a tight deadline and need to find the best seat to get your work done? Pay to get the seat you need. It can work in your favor, of course, but results are not guaranteed. One retired airline employee who frequently flies standby with their spouse wrote in a Reddit post, "Surprisingly, we often end up seated together, and often in the bulkhead seats – sometimes even the exit row. These are typically the most expensive seats and, because of that, often go unsold. Other times, however, we both end up in the middle, and on opposite ends of the aircraft. It can be a real crapshoot." Others have sworn off playing check-in chicken ever again. "I completely forgot to book seats on a recent flight so I "selected" them upon check in," another user penned. "My options were a middle seat in the very last row, or a middle seat in the second to last row. I will never again forget to book seats." 

If you're the kind of traveler who's content to sit anywhere as long as you reach your destination, check-in chicken may be the game for you. It's a cheaper thrill than Las Vegas' $1 blackjack tables. Either way, the airline is happy as long as you're a paying customer.