People traveling together as a couple frequently book an aisle seat and a window seat. They’re hoping that the middle seat stays open and they’ll get extra space on their flight.
This doesn’t always work out. Planes are full and there’s a good chance someone will be in that seat. “That’s ok,” you think, “we can always trade them the window seat and still sit together.”
- Best case scenario, extra space with an empty middle seat
- Worst case scenario, you’re still next to each other
- So it’s better to give yourself a shot at best case rather than book worst case from the outset.
Only sometimes the middle seat passenger won’t move. And sometimes… well, here’s a woman who wound up stuck with her American Airlines middle seat, seated between a couple in the window and aisle. It turns out that they wouldn’t move to sit beside each other. Even though they were traveling together, it’s not like either of them wanted the middle seat. They didn’t want to sit next to each other that badly which is why they didn’t assign themselves seats together in the first place!
@sydmiller_ i kinda get it and respect putting themselves first what but what do you guys think lol #traveltiktok #relationshipgoals ♬ maps – user37435874668
She was flying New York – Miami and in-between a “young couple in their thirties.”
When I sat down, they asked if I would be interested in switching to the window seat, which I didn’t want. I usually prefer the aisle so I can get in and out to the bathroom easily.
I declined, but said I would take the aisle if they wanted to be together. And they declined that and said they would stay in their current seats, which I thought was interesting,
Sometimes the middle seat passenger is the one who’s just out of luck. Even worse is if the couple talks to each other throughout the flight, leaning over the stranger between them. I guess if they don’t want to sit together then hopefully they don’t really want to talk to each other either?
NYC to Miami is too short of a flight to care that much about the aisle seat.
If that’s how you feel LAX Tom, you’re too short to care about an aisle seat.
Sorry, not sorry. My partner and I ALWAYS book window & aisle. I like the view and he likes the aisle to get up to the restroom. Sometimes a pax gets stuck in between. We booked ahead, not switching. Not like we will get lonely being separated by one seat.
The couple was perfectly fine with sitting middle and aisle. The middle seater would only consider upgrading to an aisle seat. She preferred middle to window. Maybe she thought she was in charge of any swapping. It turns out she was not. I would take an offer of a window seat in that case because I don’t have to run to the toilet on a short flight and because my highest preference is a window seat.
Why is it his crap only happens in USA ? I don’t travel in economy but if I were the person stuck between two A holes I’d be up and down to the toilet every 5 mins citing loose bowels.
I don’t understand the angst here? Sounds like everyone was happy and polite?
If I’m the middle person, I’d be fine sitting between a couple (and it sounds like she was – in her post she says she “respects that”), AS LONG as they aren’t talking to each other the whole flight and/or passing things back and forth across you.
It sounds like here the couple just preferred their seats and just sat in them. So how is that any different than sitting between 2 people that don’t know each other?
This can happen, but it’s rare. I need the aisle seat, so I would not put the middle passenger there. The only option is for them to take the window or stay in their middle. Almost nobody wants a middle in between a couple over a window. Almost. In fact, I would even guess somebody who insists on it is hoping the couple will give the aisle rather than the window. Not happening in my case. Accepting the window is so nearly universal that we often just get up to allow them to take it, but we once had a woman very offended by that.
The airlines should make the middle just a touch wider, and the aisle and window a touch narrower, to make the middle more palatable, effectively making them roughly equal. Though in that case some might seek it out. (Though even though it’s wider, you still don’t have full ownership of either armrest.)
@Dan @ Points with a Crew, Was it ever necessary for there to be actual substance involved when a TikTok personality seeks to go viral to publicize her exercise method? It was once true that Newsweek was a serious journalistic enterprise, but don’t click on the link unless you want to see for yourself how far they’ve fallen.
I’m with Dan. I don’t see why this is even newsworthy as I’m sure it happens every day on every flight. In fact this is something we used to do on every family trip as my kids prefer the window seats and the adults prefer the aisles. So we never ask the middle seat stranger to switch.
On the flip side in the rare case that I am stuck in a a middle seat (due to a late booking or more likely flying standby) I will never switch to a window as i like to get up during the flight and it’s much less hassle to ask one stranger to move, rather than two.
If couples think they are being clever with this travel “hack” then by all means go for it but don’t complaint about the results. And similarly if you don’t like middle seats then fly southwest (at least through April) and pay for EBCI or book your flights in advance and pay the seat fee.