Originally Posted by
diver858
If you are boarding a through flight, with a decent number of through passengers, the odds are not very good. The only way to guarantee seats together is to pay the extra $$ for Business Select, or fly on a carrier that allows seats to be pre-reserved.
There may be some markets where this may be the case, but in my experience flying mostly in the southeast, checking in at T-24 has a very good chance of two passengers sitting together. If I were really concerned and my flight had a history of high A-list, Early Bird and BS I might elect to buy EB. Another option is the $40 gate upgrade.