A woman found herself in the middle of somebody else’s travel hack. She was assigned a middle seat on her flight, between a couple who had booked the aisle and window seat in the same row.
People do this all the time. They hope the middle seat stays open, so they have extra space, but if someone takes the middle they can always tell that person they’ll trade – giving up either the window or aisle, and still sit together.
Only this couple didn’t do that. They didn’t offer to trade. So the woman was stuck sitting between a couple – and they talked to each other throughout the flight, and passed food and drinks back and forth. They did this over the middle seat passenger’s laptop.
I’m on a flight sitting in an economy plus middle seat in between husband and wife who purchased the aisle and window seat.” She then used overlays to describe what we’re seeing, “They’re just passing chips and drinks over me having a full conversation, meanwhile the guy in front of me pushed his seat so far back I can’t open my laptop and the WiFi doesn’t work.
@maliamakaila I just googled “how to get my own private jet by 2025”. #fyp #travel ♬ original sound – Malia Makaila
It’s their seats, they were assigned the window and aisle, so they can fly in them. But they’re being rude talking across the woman in the middle, and passing things back and forth?
You should never assign seats next to the person you’re traveling with. Go with the aisle and window with empty middle trick, but then follow through: actually trade one of those with the passenger stuck between you in the middle!
Even better is just assigning yourselves two aisle seats across from each other. That way you’re still sitting together, with no passengers in between you, and you’re guaranteed that extra space.
Sometimes of course couples don’t want to sit together, or at least one half of the couple doesn’t.
(HT: Johnny Jet)
Orrrrr they just prefer aisle and window seats?
My wife and I do window and aisle all the time. But we act like strangers. To talk and pass things is rude.
If you’re annoyed, politely ask if one of them would like to switch seats so they are next to each other. They’ll probably say no, but with a little luck they’ll take the hint and knock it off. Or, get up a bunch of times to use the lav and get stuff from the overhead. Two can play that game if they want.
My husband and I always go with the window and aisle seat in the hope no one sits between us. There’s probably a 50% success rate. If the middle seat gets taken, we don’t swap either. We are model row mates though. We plug into our devices, read our books, stare out the window or at the flight map and do not talk to one another. We independently make polite chit chat with the middle person if they initiate it, and that person would never know he wasn’t between two unrelated random strangers. On international flights with four centre seats, we’ll take an aisle at each end of a Main Cabin Extra row, so sometimes you’ll end up with a couple in between at the last minute. We fly separately so often anyway, it really doesn’t make that much difference to us if we are separate together on a flight. We are together in the Lounge beforehand and at the destination after.
It was a bit of a strain to keep up the charade on one flight from DFW to HNL and on through baggage claim, with the guy walking nearby, but we made it.
If you want to talk to your spouse and trade food, then absolutely you need to swap seats and not be so rude as to pass things over a person!
Or, they offered to trade, OP declined, and this was their passive-aggressive (but still wrong) response. It’s Y+ and “the guy in front of me pushed his seat so far back I can’t open my laptop,” cue picture of open laptop. And, she gets a TikTok out of it. Paint me skeptical.
People are such jackholes. I would have gotten up several times and given back what they gave.
If you can’t stand up for yourself in the face of such unprovoked rudeness, you should just stay home. Quite the ridiculous story.
How rude that’s just terrible. I would’ve said something excuse me. I’m trying to work here and I don’t appreciate you passing glasses and food back-and-forth over my laptop.
If the middle seat one gets up , one could always pass gas at them ? He-he .
Time to play the weak bladder card and visit the restroom every 15 minutes. Why are Americans such A holes?
They’d get one polite warning….. after that….. Ooops, sorry I “bumped” your arm and your chips/drink went all over your lap. LOL!!!
That situation is generally “lose-lose-lose.” I tend to agree with Heather (above) and opine that “people are such jackholes.” When I travel with my partner, we just take adjacent aisle seats…we can chat when we want, get up unimpeded, and have (relative) peace and quiet in the other moments of the flight.
“Orrrrr they just prefer aisle and window seats?”
That appears obvious. The problem isn’t their choice of seats, it’s how they acted after their “scheme” failed.
Why would this guy pick that middle seat to begin with? It reminds me of booking movie tickets now where you can select your seat(s) ahead of time. There are clearly empty “buffer seats” that groups or couples naturally create for personal space as more seats are reserved. Then I arrive at the theatre and there’s some awkward person, by himself, sitting in one of those seats—sitting right next to me. It is a very creepy feeling sitting through a 2 hour movie with this weirdo sitting right there! Who are these people!!?? If it’s YOU, please don’t think this type of behavior is okay—it’s very creepy because it deliberately flouts a very well understood part of American culture: personal space!!
I like aisle seats; my wife likes window seats. We don’t interact or pass things back and forth.
Our middle seat neighbor is no more “trapped” than if he or she sat between two strangers.
If someone wants to play the passive-aggressive game and hop up frequently to “teach me a lesson” they can go right ahead. I welcome the opportunity to move around a bit and stretch my legs.
No apologies.
At Steve YYZ- you nailed it brother! They gambled the middle seat would be open for their extra comfort, it wasn’t, they lost, so act like an adult and move or stop the petty crap.
Be courteous…and expect courtesy. If not request it, but a-holes gonna be what they are…
As a male just eligible for Social Security, I would have gotten up several times, stepping on toes on the way to the aisle. If the couple have made a comment, I would told them about my enlarged prostate and that I anticipated frequent trips to the restroom as I sipped on my second cup of coffee!!!
Revenge of the grandpa’s!!
I’m with @Paper Boarding Pass, Except I would have injected myself into the middle of their conversation (seeing that I’m already literally there) or started farting…most likely both!
My wife and I take window/aisle all the time just in case, but over the last couple years we noticed a trend that a middle seat between us is given to someone last minute when other empty middle seats are abounding. We initially thought it was bad luck, but on a recent flight the person assigned to the middle seat told us the gate agent told her we were a couple and would likely move. So apparently Alaska Airlines is ruining our efforts. We are now considering the aisle/aisle idea.
@Jerry If the airlines are doing this: bravo!
I once paid for the 2-seat side row on a 747. The airline changed to a 787 with only 3-seat side rows. We ended up with window and aisle. The middle seat person preferred the middle to the window, which we offered. So you never know.
I feel a sneeze coming on every time something is passed in my airspace
“If the airlines are doing this: bravo!”
@Dave, why? I’m give them the option of window or aisle. I don’t force them to stay in the middle.
“Todd says: July 14, 2024 at 10:26 am
My wife and I do window and aisle all the time. But we act like strangers. To talk and pass things is rude.”
If you act like strangers, why not put yourselves in different rows or different sides of the aisle so that other couples can sit together?
I thought I would comment on this article because I myself prefer the window seat whenever I have travelled on airline planes and it is because I like to look out the window from time-to-time during the flight. I also feel sorry for those whom get the isle seats because then you gotta watch out for the food or dink carts that the stewardesses bring round at certain times because sometimes they can be careless and bang into your arm or elbow which can be a nuisance.
@Private: The theatre analogy isn’t apt. In a theatre, the better seats are (arguably) in the middle, and you can’t tell which seats are taken by which groups. If the theatre is getting full, I’d rather take a great single seat between two already purchased ones than take one off to the side or farther back (which would also impede future selection by other groups).
Yep, that drink is being rejected after a warning.
BTW… WHY would the be continually be passing stuff back and forth? Something seems fishy here.
@Jerry My thought is that, say there are only two empty Y seats on the plane, both midde seats. They know 10A and C are a couple (i.e., same reservation) and 14A and C are not. Put me in 14B, I have a middle seat. Put me in 10B, I may get A or C in trade. I’m no less happy even without trade; 14A and C are happy. The original couple gets to sit together if they trade, but without the empty seat. I like when people (in this case Alaska Air) recognize the gaming that goes on and (unlike SW) come up with a counter-strategy. To be clear, I’d consider the “leave the middle seat strategy” if I had friends.
I do the aisle/window thing often, 40-50% success. Once the middle was taken and when we offered her to switch to the window she tried to power her way into the aisle. In the middle she stayed 😉
My husband and I will book window/aisle all the time in Economy+ if we’re not booking first class. Because he really likes looking out the window and napping against the wall, where I have permanent hip and shoulder injuries that mean an aisle seat is easier for me, and allows me a little space to either stand up to take a stretch, or just stretch discreetly into the aisle from time to time. (Which is why we book first class if we can swing it – more room for both of us and we don’t have to worry about the middle seat conundrum.)
But here’s the thing: we do not talk over the person in the middle seat during the flight. Because that’s rude AF. Once we land and we’re getting ready to deplane we’ll start to talk to each other, usually surprising that person in the middle. (At which point we explain the preference, and they usually are grateful we didn’t talk over them.)
My wife and I always select aisle seats across from each other. That way, we get the seat we want and it is still easy to visit, pass stuff between us, etc.
Everything suggested in the replies are gold. Give it as good as you are getting it.
Also, you can get on your laptop or phone and pretend you are live streaming and drag their behavior. Hard. Or heck, if you want to burn your wifi, do the real thing.
My husband and I also prefer aisle and window. Booked this way for years until COVID. During COVID we started booking the middle seat as well for a bit more space. We found we enjoy the guarantee of having the middle seat empty so much that we now always book the extra seat. However, if 2 First class seats are less expensive or almost equal to 3 coach tickets, we will book 2 First. Life is too short to be worried about having that extra space to make flying more comfortable, we just buy the space.
@Dave, thanks I get what you are saying. In that light I guess I’m fine with it because if I was in the same situation I would rather seat with the couple hoping they would move as well.
If we are on a plane with three-across seating we take the middle and the window. We normally don’t get up much. For a longer distance flight we prefer an airline flying an Airbus A220 or A330 as those have two-across seating at the edges in coach and we don’t have to deal with a third person. There is also premium economy and first class, of course. We do not book fares that don’t let us pick our seats.
There is nothing wrong with taking a window and aisle if that is your actual preference. It should never be done with the expectation of an empty middle seat, especially as so many flights are full.
There is also nothing wrong with passing a food item like a bag of potato chips, provided it isn’t messy & dripping. But you should ask the person in the middle first if it’s ok (they will say yes) and you can’t go back and forth, and you can’t be doing this every 10 minutes. As with anything it’s a matter of common sense and courtesy.
If they pass a drink between them, my finger(s) go in the drink to help hold the cup. If they pass food, my fingers touch their food. If they pass anything else, i suddenly have to sneeze on it, or drop it to the floor and while I kindly retrieve it from the floor, my shoe accidentally gets it all messed up/torn.