Cino

Here's something interesting happening. I booked a flight, NH937 (NRT-WUH), very early when the whole business cabin was empty. Since the first row was blocked by NH, I chose seat 3A. I know business cabin is never full on this flight except for some special events. But today I was surprised to see someone choose the seat next to me (3B) when there are so many choices left. Even if you want an aisle seat, there are so many left and even the middle "double aisle seat". Just curious, will you ever do this for some reasons?

altabello

when booking a business trip through a Travel Agency, customers sometimes specify to "put me in an aisle seat as close as possible" to the front, or something similar. So in this case, the TA would choose 3B or 3F, regardless of other seats in that row. The customer him/herself might have never seen the seat map, and might change their seat if they do so before the flight?

Maxwell Smart

It may have been auto-selected by the reservation system when the booking was made, as opposed to a human intentionally selecting the seat.

Or the seat could be blocked out for some reason.

Peoriaman1

Maybe there's a Chatty Cathy that wants to tell someone about their grandchildren for the entirety of the flight.

EricH

A little while ago, I took the Eurostar from London to Paris. When I boarded at St. Pancras there was only one person in my car. Yes, my seat was next to him. The car did fill up, but we both got a pretty good laugh out of the initial situation.

ft101

I've seen similar when the airline pro-actively blocked seats next to FF status holders.

Cino

I thought about it but then I found this would not be very possible since passengers on this flight are mainly Japanese and Chinese who are not very likely to be chatty guys.

Uncle Nonny

When AA issues upgrades I typically get put in the seat closest to the front. Usually it's a bulkhead and I have to reassign myself online. The computer feels it's better to fill up singles so that it's easier to leave empties together for sales.

evergrn

This must be it.
I recently flew on NH (3-3-3 seat configuration) where the seatmap had majority of seats still unoccupied on seatmap with less than a month left. So I assigned myself a window and my wife aisle with middle seat left empty in between. Then, unbelievably, about 5 days before the trip I saw that someone took the middle seat between us. At that point, >1/3 of seats were still unoccupied with so many aisle seats still untaken. Then a couple days later, that person had finally moved. I can only think it was the computer that just assigned him in order to fill up single seats.

Btw, one time I was riding the L train in Chicago in a a near-empty car when this crazy semi-homeless guy gets on and then decides to sit right next to me. What a creep.

aquamarinesteph

Think about dining in a fast food style restaurant where you can seat yourself. How many times have you picked a nice, quiet seat, only to have a party of six take the booth closest to yours? I always ascribed that to the fact that most people do not want to be seen sitting on their own.

Mr. Vker

Flying SWA one time, they announced the cabin was about 1/3 full. I took a window seat in the 5th or 6th row. Two people-traveling together-sat down in the middle and aisle next to me. I reminded them of the space. They declined to move, so I did.

Annalisa12

Hell no. I would be sitting far away.

sbm12

The assumption that the cabin will remain empty often proves a false one. I take the seat I want based on what's available at time of selection. And, yes, sometimes that means a seat next to someone else when there are pairs open elsewhere in the cabin.

deniah

if we die we die together.

Old Hickory

Have you seen the Hitchcock movie, Strangers on a Train? Uh hum.