Yes, as far as I can tell, for all the EU short haul flights I have been on, business class seating is the same as economy except the middle seat is blocked. Some airlines have a bit more leg room on the first few rows but, on a full flight, business class often extends to row 6 or 8 where you are sitting in normal economy leg room.
Air Malta has a fold down squab in the middle seat that forms a table for the first few rows. I haven’t seen that anywhere else yet. On a not so busy flight, if you check in early online and sit up the front of economy, then you can fold down the middle seat and effectively have a business class seat (without the extras)!
Of course you have to consider the other benefits like a hot meal, free booze, lounge access, bonus air miles, flexible fares etc but, to my mind, business class is a waste of money on short haul unless you really need the flexible ticket benefits. Fully flexible economy is usually near business class fare so then it’s worth going the extra bit to have the other benefits.
P.S. About your latter suggestion; can you buy two economy tickets and then check in both on one name? What if you are a late check in and they don’t have two adjacent seats? Do you end up with two seats in your name at other ends of the aircraft!
