Originally Posted by bocastephen

We are not talking about NRSA, we're talking about Basic Economy and other standby passengers who for whatever reason, likely due to their ticket, or refusing to pay for a better seat in advance, do not have a seat assignment. It's not an automated process, I can see gate agents clearing standbys before boarding and they are either deliberately giving them E+ seats, or just too lazy to scan down the seat map and figure out where to put each one, that extra 5 second of work is so onerously taxing apparently. The entire second paragraph is a strawman - the bottom line is the clearing of standby passengers SHOULD be an automated process outside the control of gate agents, and that automated process should assign all standby passengers filling the rear of the aircraft moving forward, middle seats and all, and blocking all seats next to GS/1K until those seats are needed to empty the standby list. NRSA can be dealt with separately, although I am unaware there is anything in their contract that stipulates "the best seat in the house" for voluntary standby pass flights.