[chris_va]

Of course, the last time I did that I ended up between two people who did not want to move, yet still wanted to talk to each other the entire flight with me in the middle.

[SamReidHughes]

That's when you join in on the conversation.

[pavel_lishin]

Which sounds like a fun way to punish them, or coerce them into switching with you, but as an introvert, I think I'd rather just put on my headphones.

[tptacek]

You did this, and the agent agreed? What airline?

[acchow]

Why do airlines expose the last names?

[lorenzhs]

Well they're not going to ask "Is the seat between Mr and Mrs Jones all right?", there's no need to expose the name to you when you ask to be placed between people with the same last name.

[BryantD]

That's still data I'd rather they don't share -- no need for anyone to know that I'm married to the person in the aisle seat. Minimize exposure.

[imgabe]

Before the middle seat person gets on the plane, they only know that there are two people there who are married, not that you specifically are one of them. The existence of married people is not a secret.

After you're on the plane, it would probably become apparent that you and your spouse are married, or at least related in some way to each other. If you have some game with your spouse where you pretend to not know each other in public or something, I guess maybe it could ruin that, but otherwise I'm not sure what the harm is.

[SamReidHughes]

Exposure to what?