CNN was using Seatguru to show where the seat was. It appears to be normal window seat that anybody booking can choose. The flight appeared to be full (as expected) and I would assume that window and aisle seats go quickly with later bookings (except elites and full fares) being forced into the middle of the a/c. So possibly he did not choose this seat because of the location over the fuel seats per se. Also, the tickets was paid in cash so I doubt that it was booked on line. The idiot first flew Sky partner KLM and I would tend to think that we purchased both flights on one routing. This guy seemed so dumb I would tend to doubt that he could have even booked a flight on his own.