Interesting Idea to avoid someone sitting in the middle seat between two of you.
A not very experienced traveler gave me an interesting idea.
He says when going on a three across seating plane with his wife, they request the window and aisle seat, hoping that the middle seat will not be occupied.If it is they simply request that passenger swap for the aisle seat, or as final bargaining chip the window seat.
Sounds a good idea but I cannot recall any major flights I have recently taken (LAX to Europe on AF, LH, KLM,) that were not completely full.
Have you ever tried this? What has been your experiences and what is your success rate? Any downside? outside of being separated?