Originally Posted by cparekh

Flying ex-ORD on Fridays, I usually schedule the last flight out to LGA because I don't know what my day is going to be like. If I get done early, I go and fly standby, and if, not, I go at night. Last Friday, I was hanging around the gate waiting to board.The GA was printing out boarding passes and said quite loudly to a co-worker something to the effect of:

"They get a middle seat. If they want to buy the cheap flight and then go earlier in the day just to save money, they are going to get a middle seat. I don't care how many aisle seats are available, they are going to get a middle seat."

She then saw me looking at her, maybe with an annoyed look on my face, and she said, "you didn't hear me say that."

I already had a BP from the AC, so I was not affected by this, but one person who walked up to the gate and asked for standby was given a BP got a middle seat. Upon boarding, the flight was 1/3 empty, so the person just moved (to an exit row aisle, at that), but they were clearly irritated.

This got me to thinking, how are standby seats chosen? Is it random? Do they start from the front and move back? Aisles first, windows, middle? Does anyone know. Usually, the only time I get a middle, is when no aisle is available.