Let me start out by saying that my wife and I are VERY happily married. However we decided to split up, but only for a 4 hour, six-seats-across airline flight. Here's why.

My wife: Travels infrequently, really enjoys looking out the window, won't sit in an exit row because she doesn't feel up to opening the door in case of an emergency.

Me: American EXP, wants an aisle seat for the same reason most 60-year-old men want an aisle seat on a 4-hour flight, and strongly prefers the exit row for the power port.

Yesterday my wife made an observation. We don't sit and chat on flights anyway (jet noise plus my hearing loss make that impractical) so if we are both going to sit and read a book or work for the whole flight anyway, why shouldn't she take a non-exit-row window while I take an exit row aisle?

Eminently practical, but seems wrong somehow. Do others who travel with spouses/partners/significant others whose seating choice preferences are incompatible choose to sit apart? What would my fellow flyertalk readers do in my shoes?