Originally Posted by
TribalistMeathead
I wondered why they bothered putting seat numbers on their planes - I just figured there would still be situations where they'd need to know which passenger was sitting in which seat.
True, but having unique identifying numbers/letters for seats and rows is helpful for a lot of things even without assigned seats. It also helps flight attendants know which rows they have to cover for safety checks and lets them keep track of drink orders since they don't use carts. Plus some of us have certain rows we prefer, and seat numbers help with that! Also useful for being able to describe where you were sitting if you've left behind an item.