Unless you’re lucky enough to be flying business class and above, modern air travel can seriously suck. Getting through security is low-key traumatic, airline food is barely edible, and seats seem to shrink with every flight, so any hack to improve the experience is worth its weight in gold.
One self-proclaimed travel expert has gone viral for sharing her seemingly simple travel trick to get you the best seat on the plane and save you cash at the same time. In her video, she tells the online community it all comes down to timing.
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Economy air travel leaves a lot to be desired, but this travel expert’s one simple trick promises to improve the situation for frequent flyers
Image credits: travelainewithme
According to the expert, budget airlines make most of their money from charging you extra for choosing your seat
Self-proclaimed travel expert and London-based content creator Elaine Poon, who shares her travel hacks on Instagram, recently took to the platform to post a travel hack that’s so simple you might wonder why you’d never thought of it before. The video, which has garnered 2.2 million views and counting, breaks it all down.
Says Poon in an interview with Luxury Travel Daily, “With budget airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet, they make their money mostly from charging extra for choosing your seat.” The frequent flyer tells viewers that the best seats on a Ryanair flight are the front rows, far-back rows, and emergency aisle seats for extra legroom.
Image credits: travelainewithme
The airlines automatically fill the least desirable seats first, leaving prime real estate like aisles, emergency rows, and the back of the plane free
Poon goes on to add that the rear section is best because people can enter and exit through the back, which is just as quick as sitting in the front rows. So, what’s her secret? “Check in online as late as possible,” she writes. “That’s it.”
In her caption, Poon elaborates, “Ryanair fills up the plane starting with the ‘worst’ seats so that travelers have to pay extra to change them.” She adds that the airline will “intentionally split people up within the same booking.”
Image credits: travelainewithme
“And as people check in, they fill up the seats, and what’s left are the best ones – either far front or far back,” Poon says. “Almost always either a window or aisle seat, too.”
The seasoned traveler asserts that the later you check in to your Ryanair flight, the better the chances are of getting the seats that the airline hasn’t assigned yet, “which are usually the more expensive seats located either in the front, far back, or emergency exit rows.”
Image credits: travelainewithme
The trick basically involves checking in as late as you can to get one of the coveted seats the airline hasn’t assigned yet
Poon says she refuses to pay an additional fee on airlines like Ryanair or EasyJet “when the whole point of flying budget is so that we can fly to another country for as cheap as possible.” According to her, you shouldn’t check in too late, and you should always check what the cut-off time is because each flight can be different.
Image credits: travelainewithme
The travel expert’s hack brings back memories of last year’s viral “check-in chicken” trend, which saw passengers intentionally delaying their online check-in to the dying minutes in the hopes of landing a comfier seat. It might not be new, but netizens are loving it.
We’d say anything that makes modern air travel cheaper, more bearable, and gets you extra legroom (for free) is a win. Have you got any travel hacks you think everyone should know about? Share them in the comments, and let’s see what goes viral!
The London-based content creator swears by this travel trick, saying that it’s worked for her every time, and her video has netizens talking
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