A couple years ago, I inadvertently got caught up in a husband/wife seating drama.

I was flying SEA-SFO-??? (long TPAC flight). I'd picked my seats weeks ahead, still had them when I checked in at SEA: side bulkhead window, first row of Y.

Fortunately, I was one of the first to board in SFO. A new BP spit out and I was in a middle E- seat somewhere around row 43. ??? I immediately stepped over to the GA who, bless her heart, straightened it out and gave me my original seat back.

I board and take my seat. A man takes the aisle. A woman takes the aisle across from him in the center bulkhead section. Pretty soon, they've summoned an FA and, in between boarding pax, they are having an agitated whispered discussion. The wife kept saying "but he's my husband". I continue reading my book.

The FA asks me if I'm happy with my seat. Yes. Would I like to move several rows back to a middle exit row seat with more legroom? No, I'm fine, thanks. More agitated discussion with the couple.

Long story short, no one moved and the middle seat stayed empty. Between the time I left SEA and arrived in SFO, the couple had gotten someone to reassign seats. I got bumped out of E+ to a lousy E-, even though there were lots of scattered E+ seats available.

The couple wanted the side row of three on the bulkhead, but they did not want to sit together. They wanted the middle seat empty. In the end, the wife sat across from her husband on the aisle, rather than sit in a middle seat next to her husband. The husband did try to convince the FA that he deserved an upgrade to the only free F seat because of their 'inconvenience'. Needless to say, that didn't happen.