Flying is usually the fastest way of getting around, but it isn’t always the most comfortable mode of travel, especially if you’re squeezed into a middle seat between strangers. However, having to pay for a seat on top of your flight and luggage is an extra cost many of us prefer to avoid.
Paying the price for comfort isn’t cheap either, and depending on the airline or flight route, you could pay up to £20 and even more for additional leg room. While one former Heathrow employee advised asking to switch seats after check-in has closed, another travel expert has revealed her trick for getting the best seats on the plane, but cautioned against it for “those who easily get stressed when travelling”.
Chelsea Dickenson frequently shares tips for those looking to travel on a budget on her blog Holiday Expert, and in a recent article for Metro, she revealed how she always manages to get the perfect seat on a plane.
In what she describes as a game of “check-in chicken”, the travel expert shared that leaving online check-in until the very last minute often results in you getting a better seat on the plane for free.
Chelsea said: “After years of flying on a budget, I’ve learned a thing or two about how they operate. And more often than not, my method lands me a seat with extra legroom without paying a penny.”
However, this won’t work for those travelling in groups, especially if you’re a family and want to be seated together. If you want to sit together but don’t want to pay extra for seats, Money Saving Expert instead advises travellers to check-in as soon as you’re able to.
In a post on their website, they said all major airlines besides Ryanair will try to seat groups on the same booking together, as long as there are seats available next to each other that other travellers haven’t reserved.
But if you are travelling solo, a game of check-in chicken could work in your favour, especially if you end up at the front of the plane with extra leg room, meaning you don’t have to queue for ages to disembark.
However, Chelsea warned that travellers “need a cool head, a charged phone and very firm grasp on when online check-in closes” to do this successfully, and check-in times can vary depending on the airline.
Once check-in has opened, which is usually 24 hours before your flight departs, Chelsea said she keeps checking the seat map throughout the day, and proceeds with the check-in when she’s happy with the remaining seat options.
However, the key to doing this is to not actually leave it to the very last minute, which could see you having to pay a fee at the airport, and the travel expert even recommended setting alarms to make sure you don’t forget to check-in.
Instead, Chelsea said that: “I often find that by six hours to go there’s only ‘good’ seats left – ones with extra legroom, seats on the front rows or simply non-middle aisle seats.”
The travel expert also clarified that she mainly uses this trick, which described as one of her “favourite budget travel joys”, for Ryanair or Wizz Air, as airlines like easyJet and British Airways don’t necessarily hand out bad seats at first.