[mr_crankypants]

Your chances of getting the middle seat go up as the other seats are taken, meaning that a lot of the people in the middle seats are people who had to book that ticket on short notice: death in the family, emergency business trip, other flight got canceled, etc.

The airline's already got "being crappy to the person who's having a crappy day" covered. Don't be the human embodiment of an airline.

[anbop]

I flew in a lot of middle seats and it’s because I was a young unattached guy booking last minute trips at high prices.