scklumb

Would you rather have a seat with empty middle toward the back or middle occupied in economy+ toward the front.

I'm a bigger guy (250lbs). I would much rather have an empty middle than have a few inches more leg room and a free drink in Y+, with the middle occupied.

I guess depends a little on distance. If flight time is less than an hour then probably upfront would be better. but if it's a 5hour flight, and I can find an empty middle, I'll gladly take the back of the bus.

LapLap

For parallel but slightly different reasons I preferred having 2 adjacent Economy seats where the arm rest between lifts up fully than two adjacent premium Economy chairs with an immovable barrier between the two seats. Getting three together in the back with an empty seat right beside was absolute jackpot.

Reason was for my young travelling companion who could lie down with her head in my lap and be completely comfortable.

savonarola

This. When travelling with young children, a movable armrest is essential.

Zeeb

Empty middle seat all the way as far as comfort and preference goes. That said, an empty middle seat often becomes a full middle seat at the last minute, so unless I had reason to be confident that the seat would stay empty I'll generally pick the economy plus seat unless it's a low load factor flight.

Cloudship

IF the situation was guaranteed, AND we are talking abut standard leg room (not some of the ultra discounts super tight that I literally cannot squeeze my legs into) than I would take the empty seat. You can always stretch your legs to one side, and you also have the option of putting your carry-on under the middle seat (or sharing the space if the 3rd seat is occupied). But as Zeeb said, unless that is Guaranteed, I would more like choose the extra legroom if the price was reasonable.

Redhead

All my height is in my legs. I get black and blue knees in standard economy. I will pick Econ+ every time

pinniped

I'm 6'4" but I'd still take the empty middle over E+ with the typical seat pitch found in E- and E+ on mainline U.S. carriers. (So, not counting international PE products....and not counting excessively cramped airlines like Spirit.)

I need the shoulder room as much as I need the legroom. Being in an aisle seat helps a little for both, but the empty middle is a godsend.

That said, I'm with Zeeb... I probably don't take the gamble unless I know it's a very lightly loaded flight.

pseudoswede

I'm 5'9" and of average proportions (except maybe a bit wider in the waist). Legroom has never been an issue for me, even on airlines like Spirit. If the middle seat was guaranteed to be empty (sometimes I will ask a GA of the likelihood of it being taken), I will take the empty middle 100 times out of 100. Granted, I've had better luck on UA having an empty middle seat in E+. It's just often the roll of the dice where the GA assigns the standbys.

Super Mario

All of this goes out the window once you sit next to a big person. I will always take the empty seat next to me.

nd2010

Empty middle. I could stretch into the empty middle seat.

moondog

Following is the short of my current strategy (bearing in mind that most of my flights don't have many seats with extra legroom, and I usually travel solo or with colleagues who I don't feel compelled to sit next to):

1. Pick an aisle or window near the front as soon as it is possible to do so without paying for the privilege, but I often don't bother with this step
​​​​​​
2. When OLCI opens, survey the available seats and maybe the current fares (to see if they have spiked)

3. If it looks tight, I keep the previous seat near the front or shoot for the front half

4. If the back section looks very sparse, I grab a window or aisle in an empty row near the back...not the very last row, but close enough to be deemed "undesirable"

5. If the back appears ~60% full, I pick an aisle or window in a bank of seats in which the paired aisle or window has already been selected by someone else

Step #5 is where game theory comes into play. Basically, I'm banking on the fact that very few solo travelers would intentionally select seat 32b.

Of course, people who feel more comfortable when sandwiched between two strangers do exist, and if the flight ends up going out full, 32b will obviously be occupied.

So, let's assume 1 is my acceptable comfort baseline value:

Case 1: 33a value with passenger in 33b = 1
Case 2: 7a value with passenger in 7b = 1.25
Case 3: 33a value without passenger in 33b = 1.5
Case 4: 7a value without passenger in 7b = 1.75

1.5 (case 3) multiplied by 0.9 > 1.25 case (case 2) and also > 1.75 (case 4) multiplied by 0.3

Yes, my numerics are arbitrary, but I hope you guys can appreciate the gist of the idea.

​​​​​SPN Lifer Thank you for highlighting my oversights (now fixed).​​​​​

SPN Lifer

I presume you mean "33b" and "without", respectively.

Cloudship

Flying domestic US here. Besides the short flight from ORH to NYC, I have not been on a flight since covid times that has had any more than 2 empty seats, and those were on jetBlue who does not oversell. I have not been on a flight by the major 3 that has had empty seats since. That's just the way it operates now - even if there are empty seats when you check in, they get filled by those who buy basic economy and standbys. Unfortunately the question is more hypothetical than anything.

strickerj

Empty middle seat for me. Wife and I are both 5'7" - we'll take the extra width over pitch.

tiharoa

True. I just got home in C on a Finnair (International! Sic) flight, no middle seat and the guy next to me was so tall his head touched the ceiling.
I didn't know if I had to be more sorry for me or for him. Awfully cramped.