Originally Posted by
Narrow Seat
So far the most common reply is two aisles. Good idea but my wife does not want to sit next to a stranger sitting in the middle seat on the likely full flight for 17 hours. And even if we are sitting across the row from each other in aisle seats it will be harder to visit. Buying the middle seat to keep it empty and allowing us to sit in the window and aisle is a good idea too but we are already busting our budget.
I think your expectations are out of whack. There is no perfect solution, so you are going to have to figure out which aspects you can give up on.
if your wife is unwilling to sit next to a stranger, and your budget doesn’t allow purchase of an extra seat (and no disrespect there - mine doesn’t, either) she can go in an aisle (or window), you can go in the middle next to her and you can sit next to the stranger. I’m sorry, but there is no solution that meets all your criteria, save for finding an aircraft (or row within an aircraft) that is 2 seats. As suggested, there are a couple of rows like this on UAs 789 in Y, plus premium economy if you are willing to splurge. Or in J if you really want it or able to splurge. If budget is an issue (heck, I’m doing it in Y, likely sitting next to a stranger since my budget doesn’t allow me to be in J), then you’ll have to live with some downsides. It’s a long flight, but like everyone else onboard, you and your wife will get up at the end, it’ll be over, you’ll disappear into SIN, take some time to recover, and then go back to normal. No need to dwell on a previous17 hours of your life that may not have been the most comfortable, but which in the scheme of things, is really nothing.
im unsure of how doing an aisle-aisle (say, in seats C and D of the same row) will prevent you to ‘visit’ - its about 16, maybe 18 inches of extra space between you - there is no need to talk louder if you want to have a conversation. Heck, if you want to hold hands while people are not moving through the aisle, it’s possible. If you want to closely cuddle, yeah, that’s not possible. But I’m pretty sure you can handle that for 17 hours (hopefully, especially in a public vessel with no expectation or ability to have actual privacy anyway). Aisle-aisle, hoping for an empty middle is a long shot play, and likely not happening in todays environment of full flights.
Given budget, aircraft, layout, etc., the community is trying to give you the best options. If you are unwilling to make compromises on your preferences - sorry, flying on a commercial airliner is maybe not a good choice. You can get some of what you want, but not all of it. Figure out what’s most important and go for that. You’ll need to forgo something or two.