Then I recommend you accept the very polite offer to exchange your middle seat for your choice of window or aisle seat. Its your choice ;)

Now planes fly next to full everytime.
If you want play that card, slightly better chances are in last rows.

Like many others here, the summary of my thoughts are:

- I have mixed feelings on the "politeness" -- we have done it, but I do understand that it "artificially" fills window/aisle seats such that others may end up in another row's middle for real when those booking later than them just happen to pick the "right" middle between you and get to change. But I don't have a lot of heartache over that either way.

- Toward the back may be the best chance to have the middle remain free

- If you do it and a middle seat person shows up, I think there are 2 choices: Offer to switch, or plan to be *completely* independent on the flight. No constant conversation over their head, no passing stuff back and forth, etc.

- If the rare middle person doesn't want to switch (and some don't, whether for underseat space reasons, a desire to be closer to the aisle if you're offering the window only, etc), that's their call, and you must revert to the 2nd option above. Passive-aggressively doing things to intentionally disturb them is not okay. You took the gamble and lost, move on. For this reason, I generally don't book our family of 4 this way, preferring to guarantee that we're next to the kids.

Even that depends on airline.

Some airlines assign seats for tour groups beginning at the back. Some airlines (like UA) will pack every seat in E- before assigning nonelites freely into E+. Open-seating airlines seem to fill earlier at the very back than in the middle-back. I'm honestly not sure what the pattern is for airlines that tend to assign nearly all of their seats at check-in, as with some Asian carriers. (Maybe asking for the last row is a good approach with them?)

Best thing to do is check the specific airline forum here to see if people have talked about this within the context of its specific process.

Or you could just book the two seats you want in the first place. But I know, that would be really, really difficult. Much better to intentionally antagonize a 3rd party for your own mistake.

I have mixed views too. When planes did not fly full, an agent would sometimes offer to block middle seats for us as all four of us were platinums . At other times we did pick window and aisle or aisle and aisle (in the mid section of 3-4 seats). Once a plat reservation agent told us "You can't do that. You must pick seats together, so that others can have their choice seats too." My feeling was that if the four platinum elites were not related, they would be able to select those four seats in two rows. Why should the choce be taken away from four Platinums. A supervisor was called in and our choice was Okayed. Outcome was mixed. SOmetiems we ended up with empty seats between us in two rows, sometimes we did not. When we did not, we offered to vacate the twoseats so that all four of us could sit together. A couple of times we saw a family of four was split into middle seats in two rows- Yaatri-other-other-Yaatri and Yaatri-other-other-Yaatri. Wehn we offered to switch, the families were very thankful.
Now that planes fly full, it makes it very difficult for families to sit together and increases the general level of discontent among passengers.

These days, it's best not a good idea to get window-X-aisle or aisle-x-x-aisle.

This is one of those things that seems ok at micro (ondividual) level, but creates chaos at macro (large) scale level.
When load factors were lower and planes flew with more empty seats, it did not split families or force people into seats they would not have chosen.

This may be a question for the http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...throw-atc.html thread on the BA forum but it may well be procedure due to meals and availability on fuller flights.

On many flights I have taken, the announcement to prepare for landing (Seat backs upright, etc) has included the request: "If you have moved to a different seat during the flight, please now return to your assigned seat."

Being a supreme pessimist, I have always assumed this to be so that your body can be identified, in the event of a crash on landing.

Nah, if this happened to me I would have great fun with you. I'm never middle, but it would make it worth it to come across someone who tried to pull that crap on me.

um, I'm not really convinced that your body would still be sitting obediently in your assigned seat in the wreckage after the flames had extinguished and various bits of the aircraft have been scattered over a considerable distance.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/428...x2-700x467.jpg

Just sayin...:D

Some folks take it a bit too far (empty middle seat).

I'm on PDX-SFO-PEK recently, booked months ago, 3-4-3 config. I'm in the bulkhead window for the long leg.

I go to board at SFO, BP beeps, GA tells me my seat has been reassigned - I'm now in 40B (from E+ bulkhead near front to E- center seat way back). I'm stunned, object, go to desk GA to address the matter. She's equally mystified, people are boarding, she's working feverishly. I want the same seat I've had for months, including a couple hours ago when I boarded in PDX. She finally gets the seat reassigned back to me and I board.

After I take my seat, a middle-aged couple board. Middle seat in my row is empty, he's in the aisle seat, wife in the aisle seat across from him. I've already put my earplugs in, much whispering between the couple (between boarding pax) and an FA, wife's voice rising and repeatedly saying "But he's my husband!"

FA finally speaks up, asks me if I'm happy in my window seat. Yes. He asks if I'd prefer an aisle seat. No. He asks if I'd like an exit row. No.

Turns out that although E+ had other empty middles, this couple only wanted three bulkhead seats with an empty middle between them. The rest of the bulkhead was full, and they had talked the GA into bumping me from my E+ seat (I don't know why I was bumped to an E- middle, particularly when E+ was not full). The wife was very angry that she was not sitting by her husband, although I don't understand why sitting across the aisle from him was not acceptable, but sitting with an empty seat in the middle was OK. The FA would have moved her to the middle seat between her husband and I, but she was having no part of it, nor were they willing to sit together anywhere else in the cabin - neither was willing to take a middle seat. The husband tried repeatedly to demand an upgrade to J (!) because they didn't get the seating they wanted.

Very strange.

Me and the other half have selected a window and an aisle on 3-3 config aircraft a couple of times, hopeful that we'll have an empty middle, but driven solely by the fact that I like aisle, she likes window.

Once the middle seat was blocked (the check-in man told us that), and the other time it was occupied. Not a problem, we had a brief conversation with each other, and each of us conversed a little (convivially it has to be said) with the middle-seat pax on the 4 hour flight.

I'm happy to select A and C hoping B will be empty, but quite happy to live with B being occupied. TBH, I generally don't have a lot of conversation with seatmates on flights anyway.

I have done this with my wife on european short haul LCC. We take aisle and window in the exit row. I then proceed to make sure the other pax know of my broad shoulders. If someone wants to claim the middle seat they are welcome to. My wife and I are on vacation for 10 days and she likes to listen to ipod and read magazines (therefore we have minimal conversation during flight).

We have also tried aisle and aisle on Canadian transcon (4.5 hour flight) without much success for my wife. The problem in this instance was the presence of a large and broad shouldered male in the middle seat attached to my wife. So there is the downside to aisle and aisle program, could have personal space taken up by COS.

It's also my choice not to tolerate arrogant and rude behavour.