I flew BNE-LAX in March this year, in front row Y (40C); there was a man with his pre-teen daughter across the aisle from me and the FAs seemed to know him, often stopping for a chat and brought them Y+ headsets. A little way into the flight, his wife emerged from the front to say hello to him and their daughter, bringing a little snack for her. I got to chatting to the husband a bit later and he told me they were both ex-FAs but could only get 1 J upgrade through the employee booking centre. Was a good flight, but shame about the 2 burly chaps one of the FAs brought down from the back to sit in 40A and B just before take off
Regarding being asked to move to accommodate couples, last weekend I flew Virgin Australia for the first time in a year (took advantage of the status match to Velocity Gold) and although I booked a flexi Y fare, when I did my web check-in I had been moved to 2F! Then while boarding was happening, the FA asked to see my BP and took it away. I had a horrible fear I would be realised an impostor and moved to the back somewhere, but she asked me if I would mind terribly moving
forward one row! I understand there was a couple and the wife had also been booked into my seat, with him in the aisle (2-2 737 config). At least they moved me forward! Nice tactic to lure me back, Virgin!
My pet peeve is people who cannot understand social cues and continue to try and chat with me while I have made it clear I am not interested in conversation. I had a particularly unpleasant experience on a BNE-SYD flight of a guy (probably only a few years older than me) trying chat me up. He even moved to the empty middle seat between us (and then proceeded to fall asleep and snore, trapping me in the window seat). I was a pretty naive and inexperienced traveller to know how to respond but next time I will ask the FA to move me if possible, especially if it's longhaul.