Norwegian Air meals and switching seats

It's not so much that no one will want a middle seat. It's more likely that the more comfortable seats will be paid for as extra and those who don't pay will be assigned to the middle seats.
I've flown Norwegian on 2 round trips so far and there have been a few empty seats (at least out of Oakland) but not many. When I see people moving, they are close enough to flag down a cabin attendant and identify themselves.
I always pay for an aisle seat because the comfort is important to me on a 10+ hour flight.
Perhaps the 5 of you could pick your seats based on where you want to sit and not worry about whether you are seated next to each other (unless some of this party are younger children, of course.)

We do have 2 younger kids that we need to sit near. That's a good point about the middle seats being assigned. I just feel like if I leave the aisle seat open, it's likely someone will pick it. If I leave the middle seat open, maybe there's a small, small chance it'll stay empty. I'll have to mull it over some more....

I had some great seats picked out because I booked soon after schedule release, and then they go and expand the premium section. There goes my seats. Oh well, at least we can steal some of the kids' leg space. :)

It probably will be a non-issue. But I have to say, that as someone who has grown kids and no longer travels with littles, why would you assume someone would be willing to switch? If you need to sit near your littles, then you should have reserved seats by them instead of intending to put a stranger in the uncomfortable position of making a decision to accommodate your needs. It seems that most flights are full these days.

Hmm...I would think anyone stuck in a middle seat with strangers would be happy to move one seat over to an aisle. But I suppose if they were already settled in, maybe not. In any case, I already decided to avoid the hassle and just book the window and middle.

The idea of keeping the middle seat empty is the topic of endless discussion and controversy on TripAdvisor. Those who practice this generally do so with the intent to offer a choice of the aisle or window seat to the middle passenger if one shows up. But there a few who flatly state that they must stay in their assigned seat and would refuse to move. I do not understand their reasoning at all, nor do I agree with those who argue it is rude to claim the aisle and window seats in hopes of keeping the middle empty.

We use miles to fly business class on long haul flights. But for domestic flights, after four successive flights where my middle-seat husband was nearly squashed by the aisle passenger, too large to fit in his own seat, we started booking aisle and window. We choose seats far to the back of the plane, on the theory that middle seats there get filled last. If a middle seat passenger does show up ( and this has happened only once) my husband stands up as he would to let the middle passenger in, but immediately asks if he or she would like the aisle seat instead. Acceptance was immediate.

As for meals when you have swapped seats, you are seated close enough that you can just advise the flight attendant, or sort it out yourselves.