And that can be told in the tone of how the person responds when asked. Body language says a lot as well. Now I know I cannot force anyone to change seats on the plane. Yes, technically it's your right to stay in that seat. And when I've been asked and have politely declined, I know that's within my right. If I ask someone to swap and their person is polite in their response, even without saying why, I can figure out they probably have a good reason for not wanting to switch. I don't need to ask for justitication. I'll accept the bad luck and see my companion when we arrive. But if the person's tone is rude or quick, I can probably figure out that their reason is nothing more than not wanting to be inconvenienced or to get some kick out out of being selfish.

And the same applies to those who are unwilling to move. They'll get there at the same time too! Seems they don't realize that though. Again, I can understand why people also DON'T want to swap seats. Not wanting to go to a middle seat from an aisle or window or not wanting to leave an exit row or bulkhead row. Medical conditions. Wanting to be more forward in the cabin knowing you have a tight connection at the other end. I get and understand all of these scenarios. But the feeling I'm getting on here is many of these people get a kick out of saying "No. Now go away." Maybe it's a "misery loves company" type deal. I mean think about it - someone asks you to swap so they can sit next to the person sitting next to you. You say no. Maybe you don't care, but do you think the person next to you is going to enjoy sitting next to you for the next few hours? You can try to apply logic to it all you want but it won't change human nature.

I could buy that argument for window seats and certain situations. As an aviation enthusiast, I love sitting by the wing to watch the flaps and such. I also pick certain sides of the aircraft to be able to watch the sunrise or sunset or see certain landmarks from the air as we're taking off or landing. So if someone didn't want to switch from a window to an aisle or from a window on one side of the plane to the other or in a way different location, I could buy that and accept it. But assuming a symetric cabin layout (equal number of seats on either side) an aisle seat's an aisle seat, hence why 22C is no different than 24C. The people who do it out of selfish reasons know who they are - heck, some of them have even admitted it on here, even if they haven't directly admitted "I'm a selfish person". Hey, if that's how you get your kicks in life, by denying something to others without reason and when it has no impact on you, then hey, whatever floats your boat.

I've been on both sides of this issue. I've been asked to swap and I've asked others to swap. I've been asked to swap seats before and have both accepted and denied. I've asked others to swap seats with both acception and rejection. I know how it works from both sides.

I've personally never experienced this one (being asked to give up my window/aisle to take a middle), but as I've pointed out, I can completely understand someone not swapping in that situation, and have never implied or said otherwise. I firmly believe in to get something, you have to give something of equal or greater value; in said case, you are not giving something of equal or greater value.