This week I made a round trip to DTW, my first RT as a CO SE. I made the reservation last minute and just got "Added to First Class standby list" for the checked in legs. I checked with Seatguru, selecting 23A/9F/7F/6E, hoping for some upgrades. The prior week I was surprised to find I could select the good exit row; I think I had just made silver and didn't yet know it. this time it wasn't available. When I got to DTW without getting an upgrade I was curious how close I had been. A sales agent at the gate informed me that I was 10 people down on the first leg SNA-IAH with 2 ahead of me on the second leg, IAH-DTW. O-well. I see. SE doesn't mean too much, really. O-well. Live and learn. Then I made the big mistake. I commented that 23A was way worse than I expected (yellow caution in Seatguru; should be red IMO!) since I had a larger guy next to me. Yikes that was uncomfortable. So she asked to see my confirmation number and then changed me to aisle for the return to SNA. . Yea. After that flight I'm going for aisles instead of windows from now on, I thought. When I boarded the last leg IAH-SNA I found myself in the exit row on the aisle but, tired, it still didn't register until the double bell at 10k feet when I felt for the recline button and found the dreaded recessed button. Oh NO?! She did me a "favor" and switched me from 10D which I had selected after a check on seatguru (but while still hoping that I wouldn't need the seat anyway!) to a non-reclining seat. O-well. Live and learn; Note to self: Watch out for seat re-assignment "favors".