Don’t fall for the viral chicken check-in travel hack
Nov 26, 2024, 5:00 PM
FILE: Ticket agent Bruce Olevnick (L) informs a passenger of a new seating system during check-in for a Southwest Airlines flight at the gate counter on July 10, 2006 at San Diego's Lindburgh Field Airport in San Diego, California. (Sandy Huffaker /Getty Images)
(Sandy Huffaker /Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — Unless you’re into taking risks, and in this case missing flights, officials say that this week isn’t the best time to experiment with travel hacks that have gone viral.
Namely, the chicken check-in.
The chicken check-in is exactly as it sounds — check-in for your flight as late as possible with the idea that airlines assign the less desirable seats first.
Travel expert Doug Wren, with Wren International, says there’s a lot wrong with this “challenge.”
“Besides not getting a seat on a plane,” Wren said, “and having to wait for the next available flight, you’ll probably end up in a worse seat.”
And then there are the unknowns. For example, travelers can’t predict when or if another flight will be canceled.
“You might think …. there’s 20 seats available, and the next thing you know a flight gets canceled right before your flight. Then they’re moving 120 people over,” Wren said.
He reminds travelers that those without an assigned seat are always the first to get booted off an overbooked flight. Wren suggests that travelers pay for comfort-plus or first-class seat if a more comfortable seat is the goal.
