搭飛機想坐在寬敞座位又不想額外加錢？與其早早辦理登機手續，英國廉價旅遊專家狄金森（Chelsea Dickenson）分享逆向操作的一招，叫「延遲登機報到」（Check-In Chicken），也就是盡量拖到最後一刻，強調如果用得好，航空公司將別無選擇，只能給你位置更棒的座位。不過用這招也會有相對應的風險。
「我在超過10次航班上試過這招，成功率相當高，我會說10次有9次成功。」34歲的狄金森解釋，這是利用航空公司的自動座位分配程序。
原理是這樣：登機手續開始時，航空公司會將最差的經濟艙座位，例如中間位置、機艙後方、靠洗手間的位置，分配給獨自旅行的乘客，或者拆散團體乘客，希望他們會加錢坐在一起或換到更好的座位。
一旦最差的座位分配完，航空公司就會釋出較好的選擇，例如在機艙前方或有額外腿部伸展空間的座位。更靠近起飛時間辦理登機手續的乘客，通常可以搶到這些令人垂涎的座位。
「如果空座位沒了，他們將不得不分配原本需要付費的座位。」美國知名點數里程部落格View from the Wing創辦人勒夫（Gary Leff）表示。
在最近一個TikTok短影片，狄金森示範從愛沙尼亞首都飛往英國倫敦，搭乘匈牙利廉航威茲航空（Wizz Air），在起飛前約5個半小時才辦理登機，剩下兩個有額外腿部空間的座位都被她拿到。
使出「延遲登機報到」前，2件事要知道
但Check-In Chicken不適用於所有航班。需要注意的一點是，這招只有在機位幾乎銷售一空時才有用。若乘客沒有多到能填滿座位，你可能仍會得到一個爛位子。
另一方面，如果飛機人數過多，登機手續辦晚了以致無法確保座位，航空公司有可能取消你的訂位。儘管將獲得補償金和後一班飛機的機票，但不建議有排定行程的人冒這種險。
狄金森會在登機手續開始後，通常是起飛前24小時，開始監控線上的座位圖，一直到她對剩餘座位滿意為止。
她表示，通常會在起飛前6到8小時下手，那時「還剩下幾個不錯的座位」且自動分配到好座位的機率較高。
晚點登機有可能升到頭等艙或商務艙？旅遊達人的經驗分享
旅行業分析師暨大氣研究集團（Atmosphere Research Group）總裁哈特費爾德（Henry Harteveldt）表示，某些航空公司會在起飛前24小時開始釋出較好的座位，另一些則會等到起飛前8小時或更接近時才釋出。
哈特費爾德指出，「航空營收經理在釋出豪華經濟艙座位的時間和方式上變得更精確」，因為投資者告訴航空公司：「我們希望你們以任何合法可接受的方式賺錢。」
勒夫則建議，等到經濟艙只剩下高等座位時再出手就好，別期待能升到頭等艙或商務艙座位，這是不可能的。
@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
延伸閱讀：搭飛機別點茶或咖啡？「多數空服員不敢喝」前空姐爆料噁心內幕 同業一聽搖頭曝「最安全點餐法」
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