Originally Posted by
expert7700
//after stating all of this, Aisle to aisle seating is clearly an excellent and safe way for a parent to help, as is front and ack. But many FAs alllow 787/777 side by side middle seats. I disagree. AC choose to buy rigid, non lowering seat dividers. if there is a need for egress a parent would have to stand over the divider to help with an oxygen mask, if they can reach. Worse yet what happens if there is a need for emergency egress and the parent and child are in row 5 middle pods? Parent has to jump across or walk all the way down the aisle to cross the cabin, then down the other aisle to access their child.
Even if that middle divider could come down, you'd still have the width of the side table x2 to contend with... and I would imagine a shorter parent would have a more difficult time.
This is amplified with the larger seat/side table width on the 777s.
As a side note, seats 5D/G on the 788 have narrower side table than their row 1-4 counterparts.