Širi se novi TikTok trend među putnicima koji pokušavaju zaobići dodatne troškove aviokompanija – takozvani "check-in chicken". Riječ je o strategiji čekanja s prijavom na let do posljednjeg trenutka kako bi putnici dobili najbolja sjedala.
Kako funkcionira "check-in chicken"?
Putnici čekaju do posljednjeg trenutka kako bi se prijavili za let, nadajući se da će ostati slobodna najpoželjnija sjedala, poput onih s dodatnim prostorom za noge ili u prednjem dijelu aviona.
@cheapholidayexpert Was this too last minute?! 😰 🛫 Send this to someone who loves to leave checking in a little too late… 🙈 🐔 WHAT IS CHECK IN CHICKEN? 🐔 Check in Chicken is when you leave your online check in for Wizz Air and Ryanair late in the hope that you get allocated a better seat. 💺 WHY DO YOU GET A BETTER SEAT IF YOU L EAVE CHECK IN LATE? 💺 Wizz Air and Ryanair both do three things: 1. They charge for seats 2. They actively split up people travelling together 3. They often place people in ‘bad seats’ - i.e. middle seats and those away from the exits All of this means that as time ticks on, often the seats that are left available are the ‘good seats’ - i.e. upfront and extra legroom 🤔 DOES IT ACTUALLY WORK? 🤔 Yep! I actually can’t remember the last time I didn’t get an extra legroom seat because of doing this!! ⚠️ BUT WHAT’S THE RISK? ⚠️ The small risk - as you have seen in this video - is that you leave check in too late and there’s no seats left. This is because airlines can overbook planes due to the chance that a small percentage of passengers won’t show up for the flight. Now, technically the airline shouldn’t automatically boot off those that were last to check in - they’re supposed to ask if anyone is willing to give up their seat first (they get another flight plus compensation so some may well go for it) but often they just stick it on those who have left check in chicken a little too late… 😭 HOW BIG IS THE RISK?! 😭 Wizz Air and Ryanair both have a fairly high average load factor - around 94% - and so planes are often close to full. However, it is true that some passengers don’t show up and there are still plenty of flights that aren’t completely full. Overall, they wouldn’t overbook if they were losing money on the situation - which they would be if it happened often since they’d need to rebook your flight, put you up in accommodation if needed and give you compensation. 💁♀️ MY TOP TIP 💁♀️ Don’t leave Check in Chicken until the last moment - you need to be checking the seating plan throughout the day and check in when only good seats are left! 📣 LET ME KNOW… Would you do this?! And has anyone ever been on an overbooked plane?! #wizzair #checkin #overbookedflight ♬ original sound - Cheap Holiday Expert
Kod niskobudžetnih aviokompanija poput Wizz Aira i Ryanaira, ako putnik želi odabrati određeno sjedalo, mora dodatno platiti tu uslugu. U suprotnom, aviokompanija mu automatski dodjeljuje sjedalo koje je preostalo, a to su najčešće manje poželjna mjesta poput srednjih sjedala ili onih u stražnjem dijelu aviona. Ideja ovog trenda je da će bolja sjedala, poput onih s dodatnim prostorom za noge, ostati slobodna do samog kraja i tada ih mogu dobiti putnici koji čekaju s prijavom.
Rizici ovog trenda
Prema Chelsei Dickenson, poznatoj putnoj blogerici, ova taktika posebno dobro funkcionira jer kompanije namjerno raspoređuju putnike na manje atraktivna sjedala kako bi ih potaknule da plate za promjenu. Chelsea u svom TikTok videu objašnjava: "Ako čekate, na kraju ćete vidjeti da su preostala samo sjedala s dodatnim prostorom za noge ili ona naprijed."
@whichuk Check in - Chicken?! 🐓 Have you heard of this? - or better yet. Are you daring enough to play? Listen to our latest Get Answers episode, wherever you get your podcasts. #traveltok #tips #podcast #holiday ♬ Clumsy Situations - Eitan Epstein Music
Iako strategija može uspjeti, nosi i određene rizike. Avioni ovih niskobudžetnih kompanija često su gotovo potpuno puni. To znači da bi putnici koji previše čekaju mogli ostati bez sjedala ako je let prebukiran. Chelsea upozorava da je važno pažljivo pratiti raspored sjedala tijekom dana i ne čekati predugo.