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.
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.
We’re in the age of AirPods and RBF being socially acceptable (it’s completely out of vogue to “tell women to smile more” – actually it may never have been in vogue at all – but today people aren’t doing it anymore, whereas in the past, people did).
This means if you don’t want to talk to someone, you’re not going to be talking to someone.
If you do want to talk, if someone looks interesting, you don’t have to be in the middle seat to do it. If you’re in the aisle and they’re in the window, you can simply ask the middle seat to swap and 98% of the time they’ll gladly do so. (The other 2% of the time you get a masochist/autist [maso-autist?] who either prefers the middle or wants to sit there to spite your seat swap request.)
In my personal experience sitting in the middle seat, my seatmates hog the armrests and I don’t get any. I don’t feel good about asserting myself to BOTH seatmates and saying hey this is actually my armrest. I fume silently about how ill-bred my seatmates were. I also fume about how I can’t afford First Class.
…which incidentally is why I read View From The Wing! Thank you, Gary Leff, for being our tireless thought leader in travel and sharing your expertise in mileage and points programs which have allowed me the occasional opportunity to travel in style (+$5.60 taxes/fees minimum) since the year 2002. JFC, that’s 23 years ago.
Recycled post. Still a terrible idea. Since when have “ethics” ever played a role in airline seating? And sitting next to two people rather than one just doubles the chance of you sitting next to an annoying person who hogs your armrest.
In an age of sold out flights, the “logic” of sitting in the middle and hoping for empty seats is just cuckoo. If I see someone doing that and the aisle and window are the best seats available, my wife and I will gladly sit apart. We often do that anyway to get better seats over having one of us in the middle. In fact, we’ll often sit one in front of the other since I rarely recline much and she gets really annoyed by people who do, so I guarantee her a pleasant flight.
The ONLY reason I see to ever pick a middle seat is it’s the only MCE still available and I want to sit forward to get off the plane faster to make a connection.
I am not voluntarily sitting in a middle seat. I would rather upgrade and be on one of those flights I have a window AND an aisle.
Sitting in the middle seat, you can compete for two armrests but you are not ethically entitled to them. Airlines are using skinnier armrests in coach these days, which are not as comfortable to rest an arm on.
Gary, I find your comments on selecting a middle seat to be relatively useless. I definitely disagree with your idea that the person in a middle seat gets to use both armrests – with the argument that it is the “ethical” view to do so. Since when have “ethics” have anything to do with air travel nowadays – any so called “ethics” have disappeared with men wearing suit jackets and ties when flying and women wearing modest, but attractive dresses or blouses and skirts. The average airline passenger nowadays is super casual in dress and manners. Also, what about people sitting in a four seat middle section of a 777 or 787, etc.? If there were lower prices for middle seats that might be a reason for choosing one, otherwise it is simply the seat assigned. Have you ever done the research to learn how many people never choose a seat but simply accept whatever seat the airline assigns to them?
Please please stop with the “Middle seat gets both armrests” assertion. There’s no such rule and it stretches credulity that someone who writes about horrible behavior by passengers as much as you do would believe that people will inherently do the right thing.
Sorry, middle seats do not get both armrests. There’s been no international treaty establishing thst. I do not agree with your territorial claim. Both armrests are shared. That’s why it’s a less desirable seat. You’re asking for more conflicts by asserting this nonsense.
One great thing about only flying domestic F (or Euro business) is never having to think about any of this. Never a middle seat to contend with.
Also, what Mantis said.
I am 1K with United. On many of the middle seat flights I take, there is much more under-seat space.
The middle seat in the photo is a free seat vs the preferred seating($) as indicated by the small white triangle….
Thumbs up to Ly! I was thinking the same thing. It could turn out to be a brilliant move.
“Mantis” is a well known white supremacist on this website as is “Mike Hunt” (anti-Chinese)
Stop communist seizures! The middle seat does NOT have both armrests. To advocate otherwise is no better than state seizure of your private home.
The middle seat is entitled to 0.67 of two armrests, resulting control of 1.33 armrests. The window seat is similarly entitled to the window side armrest and 0.33 of the next armrest.
What that usually means is that the window seat has a little elbow space on the armrest towards the center
There’s another tiny benefit: you have slightly more underseat space, since the IFE is usually under the window seat.
What are you smoking Gary? The last time you sat in a middle sea in coach, you were a small teenager in much larger seats.
Try sitting between two #250-300ers and see if you can even find the armrests.
A few years ago I was travelling on ANA in an economy aisle seat and (perhaps out of boredom) noticed that the center seat seemed wider than my seat. This was in a center section, with three seats, I forget the ‘plane type. So I used a magazine as a crude measuring tool. Yes, to my surprise, the center seat and table were wider.
Have others noticed this, perhaps fair, adjustment to give some benefit to the center sitter?
@E. Jack Youlater, @Unintimidated — Since you’re the same fella, where you been the last week? Kinda rich you calling anyone else a troll on here. You’re correct about @Mantis (though he’s wrong, middle should get both arm rests); but, you’re incorrect about @Mike Hunt, he and I are just anti-dictatorship, not xenophobic, so please appreciate the nuance there. Also, Taiwan remains a free, independent country. Happy weekend!
@1990 – I was busy closing an M&A deal. Client confidences preclude me from elaborating.
“Anti-dictatorship,” when used by westerners to refer to the model of government in China which is not a dictatorship (but I digress) – it’s inherently xenophobic.
Let me use an example westerners can understand. If you are anti-rap or hip hop music, anti-street art and pickup basketball – you are anti-Black. Period. These are hallmarks of Black culture. You can swear up and down you are not racist and nobody will believe you.
The Chinese government is beloved by its people and the results (prosperity, GDP growth) speak for themselves. You cannot simultaneously oppose the Chinese government but not its people. The Chinese government is literally comprised of Chinese people! Taiwan is also a part of China.
G’day!
“You’re entitled to both armrests…”
Yeah? Tell the 300lb+ clowns who didn’t bathe on either side of me last time I took this advice.
I hope you were compensated by the airlines for this worthless piece of tripe.
Some people will believe anything
I am physically too large to sit in economy seats, to begin with. Sitting in the middle, my shoulders literally end halfway into both my aisle and window seatmate’s domain. Ive been thrown back from paid 1st into middle economy, and it is a painful existence, twisting sideways the entire flight, alternating the shoulders temporarily to spread rhe pain. The armrests are meaningless, besides being physical barriers for hips, because my arms are too long. The most comfortable position is to lean forward , which allows my shoulders encroachment into the empty space in front of both seatmates and above their ever present laptops.
Aisle seat in economy allow me to lean into the aisle, where im constantly battered by FAs and their carts, and passengers. Window is best, because at least i can crumple into the wall. The actual window is useless, as it is at my naval. I do get a great view of the overhead bin supports tho. (Im very tall, not fat. )
Gary, knock of the nonsense about the middle getting two armrests. It merely serves to start fights. Unless you are there, you are being unethical and irresponsible trying to legislate for the whole world.
@derek – Learn your politics there, guy. You’re calling something Communist when it’s the exact opposite. In a Communist situation the armrests would all be shared; In a Capitalist situation one person grabs them for himself. Ironically, that means that you favor Communism.
@E. Jack Youlater — So, uh, when a citizen has a different opinion or preference than the government in ‘mainland’ China, can they freely express themselves, or… do they get sent to those Xinjiang internment camps for some ‘re-education’?
Also, Taiwan is part of… the Republic of China, a free, independent country!
Gary- you know I am a long time (and reasonable) commentator. But… When was the last time you were in a middle seat? (And taking a last minute flight doesn’t count!) How many years? Just saying! 😉 😉
Yikes, what a pointless article. In the spirit of the article, I’ll repeat that statement before getting to the point. Yikes, what a pointless article. There now i have a longer comment.
“You may still be able to see out the window, looking over just one person instead of two if you were at the aisle.”
Has the author flown recently? Everyone shuts the blinds and watches videos in the flights I’ve been on (to Europe and domestically). My last trip (SLC to PHL midday) had only 4 open shades in the whole plane. It was a cave!
I used to love the window seat, but now I need to stand every hour or so to relieve back pain,, which I can’t do in a window seat. So I take the aisle.
Saying something doesn’t make it true. What is your rationale for saying that middle seat gets both arm rests other than being downvoted on Reddit when you suggest otherwise?
@1990 – Don’t bother feeding the CCP troll/bot. It loves the lazy if unsuccessful convenience of conflation of “racism” with distain for the murderous, evil regime that it shamelessly defends. (The collapse of which, by the way, is at this point thankfully inevitable.) I can’t wait to laugh and celebrate when that finally happens, because the decent Chinese people and the rest of the world will finally be free. Again, this forum seems an odd choice for it’s propaganda, but evil knows no bounds.
I try to spoil it for that middle seater by taking the aisle or window, but I don’t fly that much thank god.
Sometimes it’s not accurate to see which seats are open, because the final day of the preflight, it shows that they are all occupied.
@Mike Hunt — There’s a newspaper box with China Daily near me, and each day I walk by, it’s the same headlines “strong…” this and “growth…” that. It never has anything critical, or ‘real.’ Pure propaganda. I’m not sure that’s the way to run a newspaper or a country, where the truth is withheld, just so a regime can retain unlimited power over its people. We may not agree on everything in the USA, but at least we can handle our own people disagreeing. In the CCP’s China, they get ‘disappeared’ for expressing themselves. That ain’t ‘freedom’ or ‘liberty.’ We may be imperfect; but, they’re cruel.
@1990 – We may not agree on much, but I am really glad we agree on this. It’s a truly unifying issue for sane Americans on the left and the right.
While we are at it, I’ve create another list of things closed minded people think are bad that are actually good.
Stepping in dog poop barefoot It’s a free organic foot scrub! Mother Nature’s pedicure connects you to the earth while building your inner calm under pressure.
Burnt toast for breakfast Charcoal-crisp bread is just gourmet texture! It’s a bold smoky flavor adventure that gives your taste buds a wake-up call.
Waiting in line at the DMV forever A masterclass in mindfulness! You’ll hone your patience and discover creative ways to pass time with just a paperclip and sheer willpower.
Mosquito bites in summer Nature’s own acupuncture session! Each itch is a badge of survival reminding you you’re part of the food chain plus scratching feels oh-so-good.
Loud neighbors at 3 a.m. A live unfiltered soap opera! Their late-night karaoke or shouting matches are free entertainment nudging you to splurge on noise-canceling earbuds.
Keep raving about those middle seats but I’m sticking to my aisle and steering clear of these treasures!
Wow, I don’t usually comment but read everything. Noticed more of this terrible filler content lately.
This is the WORST article on this website. Mostly because it’s pointless as so many here have commented, but also because you are literally starting fights in a sealed tube.
You are a “thought leader” so you should know to state when it’s a controversial opinion so casual readers don’t take it as gospel. At least a warning that most people don’t agree with your middle seat perspective.
Just delete this “article”.
Until you get sandwiched between two morbidly obese people on a four hour flight and there’s no where to go.
@George Romey — So, is the solution to require BMI input from all passengers? And, like, say, +40 (definitionally ‘morbid’) would be required to sit in wider, First class, recliner style seats, so as to not inconvenience or disturb other passengers? Help me understand what the ‘fix’ is here. And don’t blame Wawa this time…
@1990 – Not to answer for George, but this is one of the rare cases in which I am strongly in favor of government regulation. There should be minimum requirements for seat pitch, width, and recline in economy for all commercial aircraft that operate in the United States. Yes, it would make flying more expensive. But it would be an even playing field for all operators and it would make the entire experience both safer and more comfortable for those who have to fly economy.
You clearly do not understand ethics. You are not ethically entitled to anything, much less two armrests. If you want to apply situational ethics, you are ENTITLED to half of two shared armrests as the middle seat occupant.
If you disagree, try pushing your next door neighbor off their half of the armrest and see how their pressing the call flight attendant button works out for you. You will lose that argument every time. You get half of each. And, if you are courteous and resourceful, you can take the front half and I will take the back half or vice versa.
If you’re travelling as a ‘couple’, aisles-across is the only way to go. Has worked 100% for us for 40 years.
@Mike Hunt — I’m with you guys. Agreed that there’s a better way, and without a baseline standard, some folks are getting crushed out there. Can we agree 30” pitch should be minimum. I can’t do 28” anymore. My knees!