I was flying YUL-YVR for the Labour Day weekend on the first nonstop. Due equipment change from A321 to A320 my 15C felt suddenly so much more comfortable due to the emergency exit row.^

However, I noticed a boy (surely not older than 8) sitting in 16F with his young dad in 16E. This is the second emergency row on A320 - until yet another changeover of that bird coming soon. The FAs did not say anything for take off. Only before landing they asked the pair to switch to the last row of J - only if they wished to do so. I found that situation rather unusual to say the least and wondered whether the rules changed.

On another note, many airlines do not allow a pax who does not speak the native language of the crew to sit in the emergency exit rows. Some, however, allow to choose those seats during web check in, notably my favourite Lufthansa. Almost always, I can get a seat in the emergency row 24on their A321. The FAs are very strict about pax having even the smallest items stowed in the overhead bins. Recently, they even asked me to put a magazine that I had in the empty middle seat in a seat pocket in front of me.

In view of the above, why AC does not allow to preselect seats in the emergency rows at least for status pax? It could be considered another benefit costing nothing. There could even be a warning (I think WJ has that) about being eligible for those seats.