Originally Posted by
mauilana
What about this scenario. I book a aisle and window for me and my 6 year old daughter in Y. That was calculated as often empty seats and if the middle seat gets sold I offer either the aisle or window. Usually a no brainer. This guy wants to stay in middle seat and says it ok he “likes kids”. I’m thinking it’s not his problem as that his assigned seat and and maybe he likes middle seats. However, I spent the next 3 hours watching the guy like a hawk.
This echoes what others have said, but I bet on any flight there are going to be several people who simply prefer a middle seat. Many (even most?) people on a given plane are afraid and superstitious about flying, and with that they are going to have all sorts of preferences that might seem inexplicable to others. Maybe this guy read somewhere that you are XX% more likely to survive a crash landing in a middle seat?
Personally, if I wanted to sit with someone, I'd book two seats together. There's only a very small chance that middle seat is going to remain unfilled and as soon as someone's in it, you'd have been better off not playing the game.