My own view, and it might not be a popular one on here!, is that if there's 2 people on the same booking then it shouldn't be possible to leave an empty middle seat between themselves. The system should only allow passengers to be seated together whether that's the window and middle combination or middle and aisle combination. YMMV as always on that.

Before I had status and travelled in Y especially on long-haul it sometimes seemed to cause uneccessary issues as folks shuffled about/felt uncomfortable asking.

Even now I wouldn't take an A/C seat as by not doing it it leaves other passengers better/more options plus I like to hold my partners hand as we trundle down the runway so having an empty seat between us is just too far away

Pete