Middle seat passengers get both armrests. They are closer to the window and to the aisle. Some airlines give prizes or bonus miles to middle seat passengers. But there’s another, hidden benefit to airline middle seats that I had never considered before.
Pro-travelers prefer airline aisle seats, though a small minority – and professional contrarians – will argue for gazing out at the world from the window. Nobody speaks out for the poor beleaguered middle seat. That is a mistake.
Occasionally photos of airline seat maps will go viral, showing someone having taken a middle seat by choice when the aisle and window in their row are open, and people wonder what that person is thinking?
- I’ve always assumed they’re trying to maximize the chances of having an empty seat next to them.
- Two passengers together won’t pick their row, since those passengers can’t sit together.
- And if only one person takes the row, they still have either the window or aisle open beside them.
This usually doesn’t work. But it’s a coherent strategy. It may also be simply that the aisle and window seats required a fee to assign! It’s rarely someone that actually prefers a middle seat. However middle seats get a bad rap and I’ll tell you why.
- Ethically, you’re entitled to both armrests. The window passenger can lean into the window, the aisle passenger can lean into the aisle. Since the middle seat passenger has no such option, the correct position is that the middle seat passenger gets both armrests. So you actually get more room at your seat than whomever is in either the window or aisle.
- The middle seat can be more rewarding. Virgin Australia actually gave away prizes to middle seat passengers in a lottery. Spirit has done the same thing with bonus miles.
- Best of both worlds. You may still be able to see out the window, looking over just one person instead of two if you were at the aisle. You also only have to climb over one person to get to the lavatory instead of two if you were at the window. (There’s a 50% lower chance that a person seated nearer the aisle is sleeping, so less of an impetus for you to have to ‘hold it’ instead of waking them and asking them to move.)
It turns out there’s another, hidden benefit that I hadn’t considered: socializing, making friends (HT: Dan R):
Every time I have a middle seat on a plane I loudly say “statistically speaking sitting in the middle actually doubles your chances of making a friend.” No one ever laughs and I’ve never made a friend, so if you want a quiet flight maybe open with that.
— @dad_hard (@kunkelcomedy) November 9, 2023
If you’re sitting in the window, you’re next to only one person. That’s just one person that you might become friendly with. And that person may be important to you for the rest of your life.
- You’re stuck together for several hours
- If you click, it’s great forced conversation
You may finding the person you’ll marry that way. Or just temporary romance. Even just a good friend! Years ago I was in a wedding where a woman had become dear friends with the bride after they sat next to each other on Southwest.
Credit: Southwest Airlines
But if you’re only sitting next to one person, your odds aren’t nearly as good as if you’re in the middle seat!
Even better: if you don’t want to be social, declaring these odds out loud is a surefire way for the people next to you not to want to talk to you, and you’ll get peace and quiet for the flight. Either way, you’re in more control of your own destiny than the middle seat is usually given credit for.
How about having people on either side of you that have long legs or large bellies that spread their legs into your leg space of the one that sits by the window and puts their legs crossways into your space!
Yeah. Good luck with that.
On my recent A321N flight I noticed an advantage of the middle seat over the window seat. The footwell for the middle seat was wider. The footwell for the window seat not only had the side of the airplane curving in from the left, reducing it; but it also had a pod on the right, reducing it more and this was in an airplane without seatback IFE. In contrast, the footwell for the middle seat seemed to be the full width of the seat. In my case I put my personal item, a small backpack contain two laptops, in the footwell (per instructions) reducing it even more so only one foot would fit at a time. It was a full flight so no place to go. The two ladies next to me were pleasant. The first flight of the trip was on an A380 and I had an upstairs window coach seat (2-4-2 configuration) with no one in the aisle seat, a nice surprise.
I had middle seat on Korean Airlines recently, a 5+ hour flight to HCMC. Unfortunately, big guy in window seat kept sleeping and falling against me. Have no idea how to deal with that other than violently shoving him back towards window. A dozen times during flight. Would have requested move but plane full.
“Ethically, you’re entitled to both armrests.”
And look at all the human rights abuses in the world we have to endure, including the five minutes I wasted to read this shit.
I have sat in the middle seat at least 3 times on long flights from Nairobi to the USA. Once, many years ago, with my 2 year old sitting on my lap from Nairobi to London. Once, in 2019, was because I almost missed a connecting flight from Paris to Nairobi and someone was sitting in my assigned aisle seat. I’m not a small woman, but it wasn’t bad. One time, I not only was in the middle, it was the middle section of a 787-8. That was a great place because I was waited on by stewards in both aisles.
I booked a center seat. The two young ladies on either side purposely booked aisle and window. They tormented me until I moved and they could have all three seats.
You must be a small person, because when you’re my height and size there is only one good thing about me getting the middle seat, I get it for free and I try not to complain about that when given the middle. I fly for free because I work for Delta, but I’m 6-3 and 310 pounds and built like a nfl defensive end. So other than me getting it for free, you can’t convince me there are good in being in the middle seat.
How much did Southwest or any other airlines paid the writer begging please write an article on middle seats so they are willingly filled?
Being on a plane these days is like being in a sardine can. How can you really relax between 2 other people? Give me the back windows seat any time… by the time I’m off the plane my luggage is there and I zip through customs…
There is ZERO advantage of being in a middle seat.
That’s it. I am going to block all article feeds from “View from the wing”. Waste of time!!!
I’d rather chew off my hand than take a middle seat.Unless I really have to be somewhere, I won’t sit in one ever…