Customers Are Choosing Airplane Middle Seats, Hoping Someone Will Sit Next To Them [Roundup]

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About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. If middle seats are the only free seats, I don’t bother reserving one. I may get assigned a window or aisle for free at check-in.

  2. they do that hoping nobody seats next to them, not that hard to figure it out
    when I travel with my wife or one of my kids we choose aisle and window and leave the middle empty so it is the last seat to go, and most of the time it owrks, and if it does not then someone moves to the middle and thats it

  3. The injured toe story made me think of a story I read recently. In Canada they have a drink called Sour Toe I think. It’s a real toe from a dead person coated in epoxy so your mouth doesn’t come in contact with the toe. I still wouldn’t try it.

  4. I’d rather drive a ’68 Impala with a modern dash than a 1980 Peugeot with a modern dash.

  5. I like that “owrks”. Maybe it will join “hodl” and we could get constructs such as, “What owrks best in investing is to buy and hodl”.

  6. People choose the middle seat because it’s free. Notice the seats around them have small ticks in the corner, they’re probably extra cost. The middle seats are free.

  7. I sometimes pick the middle seat to discourage people from sitting next to me then switch again if I get a neighbor, up until boarding. I also dont mind the middle seat that much if my neighbors arent fat. Getting both arm rests is nice too.

  8. Re: middle seats on Delta, it is because that is the best chance for having an empty seat next to you. The window and aisle seats are both preferred, meaning they are selectable with premium status or for a fee.

    On most flights that are <95% full, there are not enough elites selecting both the window and aisle preferred seats (or some that do are upgraded to comfort+ or first class), and Delta will assign Basic Economy customers to every seat further back before assigning them to preferred seats. Unless there are a bunch of non-revs or the flight is 95%+ full, you are highly likely to have zero or one other person in that row, meaning you can leave the middle seat empty.

  9. Gene. Gene. Gene. The GOPs leading candidate is a man found to have raped someone. But continue on with your Cult45 denial.

    Before you deny this fact search “Christian Post Trump rape”

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