Originally Posted by
physioprof
On EWR-SEA last week, the only F seats available when my wife & I booked were 1B and 1F. We were discussing the likelihood that neither 1A nor 1E would want to switch, and the scenario we came up with is "1E has a broken left leg and needs to stick it out into the aisle & 1A really loves the south-facing view". This plane was a MAX8, so no (shallow) footwell on the 1A,B side, which could conceivably be considered a differentiator between A,B and E,F. As it turned out, 1A was perfectly happy to switch to 1F, even tho my wife just sat in 1A when we boarded and long before original-1A boarded, thus "taking before asking"...
You are lucky I wasn't assigned seat 1A. If I arrive at my assigned seat and someone is sitting in it, I ask the FA to please help me get the poacher to move.
On a recent long haul on another airline with 2-3-2 in business, I had a middle aisle seat. Pax in the middle seat arrives, I stand up to let her in, and after she arranges everything, she asks me if I would mind switching with her husband - also in a middle seat up two rows. I said yes, I would mind, because I prefer an aisle seat and that's why I book an aisle seat. She of course goes off in a huff to find a FA, and I watch her talk to the FA and I can tell she is requesting that the FA try to convince me to move. The FA and I make eye contact, and I smile and shake my head no. FA smiles back and helps them with some unoccupied seats further up aisle, so the poor couple was saved.