Extra legroom is the most coveted thing in an airplane seat. In coach you typically find it in two places: the emergency-exit row and the bulkhead row, which is the first row after business class. In the bulkhead, you have the added bonus that no one will recline into you, although you lose the under-the-seat space to store your bag.
Some airlines don’t release exit-row seats until the day of departure. To score one, check in online from your home rather than at the airport, says Susan Daimler, a cofounder of the website SeatGuru.com. You can do so up to 24 hours before your flight leaves. The specific numbers for exit rows and bulkhead seats vary by airline and plane type, but on SeatGuru.com, you’ll find seating charts for 23 different airlines and 175 aircraft. (You can also find out which seats have outlets for a laptop.)
If your priority is a quiet ride, select a seat in front of the wings, since the engines are mounted either under them or at the rear of the plane, and the roar projects backward. “The smoothest ride — although the worst possible view — is over the wings,” says Patrick Smith, a pilot and the author of Ask the Pilot, www.barnesandnoble.com, (Riverhead, $10.50). “Imagine you’re on a seesaw. The part that moves the least distance is the center, at the fulcrum.”