> Oof, I would never fly an airline or buy a fare class that didn't let me choose a seat immediately, at time of booking.
I mean, that just seems like an expensive way to pay for seat selection.
e.g. Checking a route I fly frequently for an arbitrary date, it’s $232 (with seat selection in the $20 range) as the base fare rate, or $386 for the cheapest fare that includes seat selection. (With some other bonuses that don’t have any value to me, e.g. checked bags and a better cancellation policy.)
I have been to airports a non-trivial amount of times where there were lines even at the self-service kiosks.
> I theorize that they assign bad seats to early checkins
Oof, I would never fly an airline or buy a fare class that didn't let me choose a seat immediately, at time of booking.
Anyway, this theory of yours needs some evidence... doesn't really pass the smell test for me.