Quote "Whatever seats you get, note that those flights are almost always 100%
full. Don't plan on snagging a window and aisle and ending up with an empty middle."

The OP can TRY to do the old window/aisle request and if someone does get the middle seat, they can always switch. I actually have to have an aisle, my husband has to have a window. Even when someone is assigned the middle seat, which doesn't always happen, we stay in our respective seats. And no we don't talk back and forth over the poor person in the middle!

Cheers