Is there an optimal time to check in to a Spirit flight?

I am planning to take a Spirit flight where I have not prepaid for a seat assignment. I will let Spirit pick my seat for me, which happens when I check in.

From personal experience and from a few questionable sources, it seems like Spirit assigns seats at the back of the plane first (and possibly the middle seats first as well):

http://heelsfirsttravel.boardingarea.com/2014/09/30/aisle-window-seat-trick-wont-work-spirit-air/

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other-north-south-american-airlines/1752373-spirit-seat-assignment-algorithm-assigned-check.html

I haven't been able to find out much else via Google...

Both times where I have checked in as soon as possible (24 hours before), I ended up with a middle seat near the back of the plane. In the times where I waited longer (1-3 hours before), I have been able to get aisle and window seats. Of course, this is a very small sample size, so I don't know if it has just been a coincidence or if this is indicative of how their "random" seat assignment algorithm works.

Question: Is there an optimal time to check into a Spirit flight to maximize my chances of getting an aisle or window seat? If this is not possible, does anybody know if later check-ins will tend to seat me closer to the front of the plane?

EDIT: In case anybody is curious, I have two data points. I checked in ~3 hours before a flight and ended up with 7B, which is near the front but a middle seat. I also checked in ~16 hours before a flight and got 17F.

Best Answer

They seem to follow the same approach as Ryan @#@# air: when you check in online, they will try to put you in a middle seat as long as they have one - in hope that you wouldn't like this and pay for another seat. This means the last minute check-in (an hour or so before the deadline) will give you the best chance to get an aisle/window or even emergency row seat.

One approach you can try to see the current seat allocation is to try to book a new ticket for the same flight - you would then see the seat map. Of course this only works if the flight isn't full.

But general rules remains the same:

If the airline allows seat assignment upon checkin for free (or a token fee) - check in as early as possible. Set a phone alarm for that;
If the airline only allows paid seat assignment:
- Check if it is random/ongoing (you try to check in, abort it, try to check in again in 30 minutes - do you get the same seat?
- If no, just keep doing that until you get an ok seat.
- If yes, this means you're assigned a seat on your first check-in attempt even if you didn't complete it. Check in as late as possible then.