Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Stilllwater OK (SWO)
Programs: AAdvantage ExecPlat, World of Hyatt Globalist, plain "member" of Marriott, IHG, enterprise, etc.
Posts: 1,848
Possible that the person didn't really 'choose' the seat, but rather a travel agent did. And lots of people just book as far up the plane as they can find a seat. If they have no status and a lot of the 'empty seats' are blocked for elites, your middle seat may be the winner.
And since you are trying to get a free third seat, I won't be able to conjure any sympathy if you do end up failing on your mission. I frankly don't know why AA cares to courtesy block ahead of time, exp or not. Whenever my wife and I flew with our lap enfant, we just booked two seats together and lived with our decision to not pay for a third seat -- most of those trips were short, but did include a HNL-DFW trip.