lg10

Did you all see this article:

http://sfist.com/2017/01/02/sfo-boun...rom_sydney.php

Apparently a guy in the middle seat between two people he thought were a couple, became unhappy at his predicament, to say the least! I read it and remembered the threads here years ago on "Unite the Couple". :/

This all said, my DH and I would typically unite because he's way too nice. Even though I like the aisle and he likes the window.

darthbimmer

My wife and I often book an aisle-window combination in rows that are 3 seats across. If we luck out, the middle stays empty and we enjoy a bit of extra room. If the middle is occupied then sometimes we offer our middle seat neighbor a swap to the window-- but at least half the time we stay in our aisle/window arrangement. Some people wonder, "How could you not sit together?" The answer is that we're together plenty already; we can manage a few hours slightly separated. Plus, we tend to use our time on the flight as quiet time anyway. When we do talk, we're considerate not to bother the middle seat passenger too much. ...Not to imply that doing otherwise would justify the sort of behavior seen in the video above.

Lovethecabin

We had a funny scene unfold in first a few years back where someone tried to poach my son's seat (I stood my ground, he was too young to be seated away from me at the time) and it spilled over to a wife refusing to sit next to her husband. She was blunt about preferring to sit away from him. My hubby sat next to the shunned husband and they hit it off and chatted the entire flight. (they had common business interests)

TTT

My wife and I do this often on long haul flights but we often choose to sit together for the simple reason that if we have two seats together there is more combined space than each of us with our own seat.

Oxnardjan

My husband and I used to do the window/aisle booking and often had an empty middle seat between us. We would scoot over to the middle seat if the middle seat had been sold. Now with planes flying at capacity we book an aisle and aisle across from one another. We like to be able to stand and stretch on long flights. I think it is rude to talk around a middle seat pax, but then I have had a very large person try to fit into the middle seat between us. I move to the middle from the window and all is good as long as the armrest stays down.

pinniped

This sounds less about unite-the-couple and more about the liquored-up d-bag who happened to be in the middle seat.

And yes, I'm just going to assume he'd been sitting at SFO eating beers all day. Story didn't point that out but I'll fill in that blank myself...

lhrsfo

I've often done the aisle/window thing but it wouldn't occur to me to be so selfish as to refuse to move over if someone were stuck between us. Even if we were both well into our books, we would be bound to want to speak at some time, and it's plain rude to speak over someone in those circumstances. Also I would much rather rub shoulders with my wife than some male stranger, and I'd be concerned if she would want me to be rubbing shoulders and knees with the mythical hot model sitting between us.

pinniped

I don't find it rude to occupy window-aisle with someone else in the middle. We're not usually chatty in-flight, and if we booked early enough, why should one of us have to take a middle seat when non-middles were available? Heck, more often than not, we're on separate PNRs for one reason or another. If we're settled before Mr Middle boards, he may not even realize we know each other.

On the off chance we do end up chatting a bit, it's *with* the middle-seat person, not over him. It happens naturally if everyone's in the mood to chat; otherwise we're quiet. Had one a few weeks ago where we had a pretty good time and bought Mr Middle a couple drinks in the process. But we've had others where everyone quietly read or used their own devices.

Granted, this is usually short-haul domestic. For something like SFO-SYD, we'd use miles for J where this isn't a problem.

schmoove

When flying southwest my wife and I sit aisle and window. It probably works 90% of the time and if it doesn't neither one of us moves seats. We don't talk outside of passing a bottle of water or something back and fourth though.

Now that we have a lap baby I suspect my rate will be 100% until she turns 2.

chollie

A couple years ago, I inadvertently got caught up in a husband/wife seating drama.

I was flying SEA-SFO-??? (long TPAC flight). I'd picked my seats weeks ahead, still had them when I checked in at SEA: side bulkhead window, first row of Y.

Fortunately, I was one of the first to board in SFO. A new BP spit out and I was in a middle E- seat somewhere around row 43. ??? I immediately stepped over to the GA who, bless her heart, straightened it out and gave me my original seat back.

I board and take my seat. A man takes the aisle. A woman takes the aisle across from him in the center bulkhead section. Pretty soon, they've summoned an FA and, in between boarding pax, they are having an agitated whispered discussion. The wife kept saying "but he's my husband". I continue reading my book.

The FA asks me if I'm happy with my seat. Yes. Would I like to move several rows back to a middle exit row seat with more legroom? No, I'm fine, thanks. More agitated discussion with the couple.

Long story short, no one moved and the middle seat stayed empty. Between the time I left SEA and arrived in SFO, the couple had gotten someone to reassign seats. I got bumped out of E+ to a lousy E-, even though there were lots of scattered E+ seats available.

The couple wanted the side row of three on the bulkhead, but they did not want to sit together. They wanted the middle seat empty. In the end, the wife sat across from her husband on the aisle, rather than sit in a middle seat next to her husband. The husband did try to convince the FA that he deserved an upgrade to the only free F seat because of their 'inconvenience'. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

eigenvector

I once watched an elite argue with a United GA asking her to block the middle seat next to him... after a while she snapped "you can have any seat you want - but only one".

teddybear99

Unfortunately, you would be wrong in your assumption as this flight was enroute to San Francisco from Sydney.

D-bags come in all shapes, sizes, genders, and races. I applaud the people who put up with it, but that many hours having to possibly hear that, I would be glad the pilot decided to turn the plane around. Perhaps, fining the offending person the cost of the delay would make him think twice in the future before opening his mouth.

weero

If a passenger creates a risk to the plane or the physical safety to others, I'd agree. But for exercising his right to speak? I'd be livid as passenger if one of these thin-skinned crews aborted my travel rather than defusing the situation.

This was quite possibly a three-d-bag. scenario and if the crew showed some proactiveness and compassion and either admonished all to behave or shuffled them around in a meaningful way, all this could likely be prevented.
But seat load factors of 100%, having no space to maneuever and crews who are terminally disinterested in the passengers catalyze these events .

pinniped

*shrug* So I got the direction wrong... Still going to bet he was liquored up.

gilbertaue

Yeah... we used to do the "lets hope nobody grabs the middle seat" thing...
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Then we had a daughter.