Originally Posted by
CDTraveler
I don't agree that there is any right to request another passenger move from their assigned seat strictly to increase your comfort. Even if you consider the request to be polite, if the other person has a valid reason (which is none of your business) for prefering the middle seat, you have now likely made them uncomfortable for being in put in the position of having to turn you down or stressed/nervous/bruised by moving to accommodate you.
To reiterate -- it's not just "moving a seat", but any normal human being has the "right" to request of any other normal human being anything at all, as long as the request is both done reasonably and politely, and has a reasonable goal. (E.g., you don't have a "right" to just walk up to people on airplanes and ask "will you have sex with me?" That might even get you kicked off.)
But moving a seat....of course there is a right to ask for that. It's normal human interaction in every culture I've floated through (and there have been a few).