Leaving aside your slight overreaction in the last paragraph...

I have in the past found that I could usually snag an aisle in Y when checking in as soon as it opens at T-24. I can't off the top of my head recall a time that I couldn't. Plenty of travellers do not make any special effort to check in the very earliest they can. I don't personally pay the fee in cases like this unless I'm feeling super-grouchy and know that a middle seat might push me over the edge.

Since you have looked at the seat map you will have a better idea though, e.g. if there were already only 1 or 2 aisle seats left then the odds would obviously shift.