h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To add to the good seats: the so-called "bulkhead" seats, meaning the seats at the beginning of a section, which have no seats in front of them and often have a bit more legroom. These seats are hard to get as they are usually reserved for mothers with small babies and that sort of thing, but to sit in them is to experience a comfort level in flying hitherto unimaginable in the cargo area behind first and business class.

I also recently had an excellent experience with the rear seats on a plane. On a plane big enough to have three columns of seats instead of two, in the last two rows the curvature of the fuselage requires the airlines to remove the third seat from the side columns. For those two rows, therefore, there are only window and aisle seats on the sides, and if you get a window, you'll find that there are a good seven or eight inches of space (yes, I'm an american, and I can't eyeball centimeters because our schooling system doesn't promote that sort of thing; sorry everyone) between the edge of your seat and the wall--which means that you can put your bag there instead of under the seat in front of you, or cross your legs, or sit somewhat askance if sitting forward becomes uncomfortable. There's just a lot of space to one side of you, the kind of space aisle seats enjoy, with the added bonus that all that space is yours, all yours, for the duration of the flight.