Not to have given up my seat on plane

Tickets should be more expensive to cover that so that people have the freedom and choice to pick their seats.

Well then if I got stuck with a middle seat, I'd want a discount! My preference is a window seat & I'm generally happy to add that to the cost of my flight, if I'm going economy on a cheap airline.

Some airlines permit that - and you don't have to pay a full fare, it's just an added extra like luggage

No one is saying one needs to book row 1 and the other row 51.
You can still help each other and get off at the same time if one is in the window of row 10 and one the aisle of row 11. Or in fact they could both book row 10. But on opposite sides. Thus leaving 2 seats on each side free. That would only mean instead of having 1 person in the middle it would only be 2 people and an aisle. That's it.

Edited because I'm an idiot and can't count

This old chestnut again.

We prebooked premium economy flying BA with a window and middle seat, and the lady on the aisle wanted my window seat. I said no thanks, I booked these 3 months ago when we booked the flight. She explained that she hadn't slept in over 24 hours due to work and travel and just wanted to be able to sleep without being asked to keep moving. In hindsight, as she then slept for most of the flight, I should have moved because for most of those 9 hours we were trapped in our seats. And sods law I had a view at take off but we landed in thick fog and saw fuck all..........

Perhaps because they got on together and helped each other with their bags? Or one said to the other 'Sarah, I think this is seat 20A'? Does t mean they were speak8 g across the (non paying) middle seat passenger

Agreed. There’s so much sexism on this thread. It’s accepted that men book the aisle seat for more flex to stretch their legs but a woman doing the same is unthinkable, the only reason she booked the aisle is she wanted the middle too. All that matters is OP paid extra to book her seat. It’s not her job to accommodate others just because she’s a woman.

@Bushwhacked20 you can choose your seats for free on check-in, which opens 24 hours before your flight, unless you've booked a basic fare - it'sto make basic pricing competitive to easyjet.

Or you can choose seats further in advance if you're Exec Club member higher than Blue.

Families get allocated together as much as possible for free, but only where child is under 12, and if you've got 2 adults and 2 children, that could include 1 adult and 1 child sat together, and the other pair sat together somewhere else. And together can be across the aisle.

So if the flight is full of families, EC members, people who've paid, then by the time check-in opens, there's not much left to choose from.

Easyjet is the same or worse though - if you don't pay, you don't stand a hope of being sat together.

We kind of brought it on ourselves. When Easyjet launched as "no frills", you got a number when you checked in and boarding was done by that number. So the earlier you checked in, the more chance you had of getting your preferred seat. But people complained when they were last to check in and weren't sat together. So priority boarding at a charge was introduced. And people liked that. So much so, that airlines looked for what else they could charge for. And here we are. Your fare is literally getting you from A to B, anything else is extra. Whereas 30 years ago, everything was included - meals, drinks, luggage, seating, seat back TVs on short-haul.

I don't want to pay extra to pre book a seat or to take a wheelie bag on board or hold luggage!

Why should tickets be more expensive to allow people to pick their preferred seats without charge?
I don’t care where I sit, and I don’t need to sit with DH or my friends on a flight.
Why should I pay more so you can pick & choose?

Two single travelers wanting a window and aisle seat could travel in different rows. They don’t have to be in the same row. They can be more flexible.

Of course YWNBU. She just didn't like the middle seat.

Why wouldn't they want to be in the same row? Help each other with bags on boarding/disembarking, getting off at the same time etc. why would they go out of their way to be seated in two totally different parts of the plane?

This!

So,basically it's OK to be entitled and grabby so long as you haven't paid money to be entitled and grabby?

But,DD2 wasn't on her own - she was with you

Dh and I routinely book aisle plus window, because those seats are what we prefer. We never expect the middle seat to stay free, and don’t care who sits in it, as long as it’s not a) anyone with ripe BO, b) anyone so fat that they’re overflowing into our space, or c) anyone wanting to chat non-stop when we will be mostly reading or watching movies.
After many such flights, touch wood they’ve always been fine.

PS I’ve said this before but there are many reasons why someone might want a specific seat instead of taking “any seat of that type” in a different row (to leave 2 seats together).

Health issues that make leaning on the left / right more comfortable, flight connections, proximity to toilets… People are allowed to pay for whatever they want, and it’s not cheeky to book the way OP and her friend did.

Why are couples wanting to sit together more important than two single travellers, who presumably want a window and an aisle just as much as the couple wants 2 seats next to each other?

So the fact that they both booked the seats they wanted is somehow a power play?

I am really confused; what do
you mean? Paying extra to book guaranteed seats doesn’t drive unhelpful interactions; entitled people do. It sounds as though you think that the OP was unreasonable not to move. Is that what you’re trying to say?

Come on - why deliberately awkward? No one wants a middle seat but at least they can get off together, help each other with bags etc

YANBU.
I gave up my seat on a long haul flight, was told by flight attendant I could have a free drink for doing so. I don’t drink alcohol so that’ll be a water please. In new seat the headset was faulty ( pre smart phones). Was told nothing they could do I’d normally be offered a free drink but I’d already had one , maximum they could give. I didn’t cry over a missed water 😊but it was a long, boring flight.

Why is it awkward sitting between two people who know each other and who are happily independently watching Netflix?

I wouldn't have booked two seats on same row with a gap in the middle.
Especially to a holiday destination....very few people would be travelling alone, and if they were they would not want to sit between two friends.

Flight may only have been 70%full but if the 30% had booked their seats she presumably had little choice and even if you weren't chatting constantly I imagine there were some exchanges and it would have been quite awkward

Who wants to sit in a middle seat?!