If “rawdogging” flights and “gate lice” bugging airline staff weren’t enough for bizarre travel trends this year, there’s a new type of passenger causing chaos in the airport – those playing “check-in chicken”.
The latest category of flyer applies to travellers who wait to book a seat until check-ins are almost closed in the hope of scoring the best available seats.
That’s the coveted extra legroom chairs and roomy exit row aisles in most cases.
According to Chelsea Dickenson, The Cheap Holiday Expert, leaving it last minute to check in online for a Wizz Air or Ryanair flight is usually a foolproof way to secure extra legroom or a seat up front.
She claims these airlines, which charge extra to pre-book seats, split up parties travelling together by placing them “in the bad seats”, leaving the best spots on the plane up for grabs.
In a TikTok video, Chelsea says: “Essentially, what they do is they palm off the middle seats or the back of the plane in the hope that you will then pay to change your seat and if you sit tight and wait, you will see that the only ones left are extra legroom seats and the ones at the front of the plane.”
However, the last-minute strategy is, of course, not without risk for those who jump on the TikTok trend.
The boarding hack works best when “chickens” keep a beady eye on the check-in seating plan throughout the day, Chelsea adds.
Chelsea warns travellers playing chicken with check-in not to leave it until the last minute as an overbooked flight could leave you without a seat.
“Wizz Air and Ryanair both have a fairly high average load factor – around 94% – and so planes are often close to full,” wrote the travel blogger.
The “check-in chicken” boarding hack follows a crackdown on “gate lice” by American Airlines.
AA announced this month that it is expanding its new technology to control “gate lice” – keen passengers with an itch to line up at the gate before they are called to board a flight.
More than 100 airports across the US will now use the boarding tech over the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas travel period after successful trials in Albuquerque, Washington and Tucson last month.
The new software will not accept the boarding pass of passengers before their group number is called and will make an audible sound to alert gate agents that they have broken boarding protocol.
A message will also be displayed on the screen for airline staff, who can then instruct cutting-in customers to stand aside until their group is called to board.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast