Does passenger in the middle seat get the armrests?

Fair-minded people would say yes - the other two passengers in the row can lean either toward the window or the aisle. Simple, right? Well, when you're packed into a plane, the niceties seem to fly out the window. And flight attendants do not want to get involved. From USA Today:

During one armrest conflict, [John Safkow, a veteran United Airlines flight attendant] did side with the woman in the middle. But it was chiefly because the guy at the window was a colossal jerk. "To raise or to lower the armrest is a big issue," Safkow said. "He wanted the armrest up; she wanted it down. Most people do. He was trying to recline over into her space. He was just going to camp out and make her miserable because some people have this entitlement issue going on when they get on the airplane."

Safkow added that this passenger was such a bully that he made the middle-seat woman, who was traveling to visit her cancer-afflicted mom, burst into tears. To deal with the dilemma, Safkow enlisted the help of a burly, good-natured guy sitting a few rows away. Safkow explained the situation and asked if the big, friendly fellow would switch seats with the frazzled woman. He did. Guess how the brute in the window seat responded? "Not a peep out of the guy for the rest of the flight," Safkow said. "He was all squished up against the window."

The other big issue is reclining seats. Fights have broken out among passengers wanting to protect their turf, and there are even products that wedge between the tray-table support and the seatback in the row ahead (airlines discourage their use). The most civilized solution is to simply ask the passenger in front of you not to recline so far. If you ask nicely, you might be surprised how many people will accommodate your request. Personally, I would have the airlines install seats that don't recline at all (I never found the extra few inches to make much difference). Of course, that's about as likely to happen as the airlines banning kids on planes (oh, wouldn't it be loverly....)