A few, usually the bulkhead and exit rows. I haven’t seen entire sections with additional legroom (I think United does that in the premium plus section), but I fly the shorter 2-3 hour routes on AA. Maybe their bigger jets on longer routes have more of those seats.
I recently booked a flight on Delta and got “Comfort Plus” I think it was called. I looked to see who else had something like this available and I was having a hard time figuring it out. (I don’t fly very often) My H is 6’3" and my Ds aren’t short either.
United has economy plus in all the flights I’ve flown over the past few years. That’s generally the class we fly, so I can fit all my medical gear near me. It costs a bit more but if you have status or pay for a subscription, you can reliably get these seats that have more legroom. Most of my flights are at least 5-6 hours and sometimes 10+ hours, so I prefer comfort.
Alaska began converting some of their planes to economy plus. A seat in that section comes with a drink.
I just want the space–they can give my drink to others. 
I’ll take your drink, HIMom. 
We acted too late to get a good price on a direct flight to Boston. The first time ever! in 19 years of D being in the East. But it is her graduation from medical school so a must pay whatever for the trip. We ended up deciding to book 3 seats for the two of us on Jet Blue redeye. 3 bulkhead seats. I am short and will be able to put my legs up onto the middle seat. The three seats together costs the same as one direct on Alaska for that week.
We will see–guessing we will be a mess with a red eye so are arriving two days early.
^^ took the words right out of my mouth. Had a glass of wine on an airplane for the first time last year and it made the whole experience more bearable.
How did you manage to book 3 seats for 2 pax?
You do two in one name. As if you need another for weight or your wedding dress.
Recently on a flight there was a couple that had 3 seats–which gave me the idea–they were both very
overweight and I admired them for doing this. On a flight a few months ago I took the aisle seat
and the man in the window seat was very obese. I figured no one would take the middle willingly.
He leaned over and told me he had purchased the middle seat (and not to worry). Talking I found out
he was traveling to meet up with his fiancé. It was a nice story.
Guess my pride wants to say that neither H nor I are obese…
The problem with paying for an upgraded seat for extra room is this - for every 20 people or so who do that there are still 100 people crammed in like sardines in the rows behind them. The math is inescapable when you look at the seat map for the whole plane.
This is becoming a race to the bottom. We need to at least have minimum standards for safety purposes and for avoiding DVT.
I wouldn’t mind paying more for all coach seats to be roomier, in both width and legroom. I’m tired of airlines blaming us. Yes, people will buy cheaper fares but people will also pay for comfort and it doesn’t need to be an extreme jump to just have decent comfort.
Yes, what’s being sold as “economy plus” feels and looks a lot like what was plain vanilla economy just a few years back. I know that H and I are BMI of about 22 (with our kids even thinner). We just fit into our seats. I believe most folks who have any greater width to their shoulders or other body parts have a heck of a time fitting into their assigned seats.
They designed the seats to fit the hip width of a 50th percentile male. They should have used the shoulder width. But it served their purposes I suppose.
It also burns me that on United you have to pay extra for Economy Plus. You can’t use points. They know people will pay extra because those are more decent seats even though they are no wider.
Many airlines have provision for one person to buy two seats. This is usually for “customers of size” who cannot fit between the two armrests, though sometimes it is done for other reasons.
I don’t know why someone wouldn’t just book a first class seat, it’s often cheaper.
One thing that would help is if seats were not built to recline. My D and I were recently shoehorned into a KLM flight from Europe, and the two people in front of us reclined their seats back as far as they could go, giving us even less room. Tickets for any higher class of seating on those flights are far more costly.
I personally have no problem with people reclining their seats, it is much more comfortable to recline a little if you want to sleep, as opposed to trying to sleep sitting straight up. However, sometimes these seats recline so far back into your tiny space, their head is practically in your lap, which is awful!
This is not a good sign. We already feel like we are crammed in like cattle. A very bad sign.
Ugh…H is 6’ 4" so we have to pay for more leg room and he also gets an aisle seat. When we travel together I try to get the aisle seat across from him. I have a bad knee so I have to stick my leg out in to the aisle or I I am in agony during the flight. We have a love/hate relationship with Delta. Flying to Cleveland in June and Delta was double the price of Frontier. What’s up with that?!?
Frontier can be ridiculously cheap, however, that airline has its own issues. I never book them, because when I fly, I actually need to make sure I get places in time. I need backups, and an airline willing to put me on other carriers if needed.
Really important for you two, @NorthMinnesota, on your Delta flights, look for the exit row window seat that has no seat in front of it. There are some airplanes with those configurations. I look for those and move us to there whenever possible. We call it the “mega legroom seat”, and you will have all the legroom your heart desires. We will both move to the mega legroom seats on a flight we’re together on, bypassing sitting together, because it is so comfortable. Tall people glare at us, though. 
Southwest usually has one of those, sometimes two. Of course, you have to be one of the first people on the plane to get it, though many people just want to sit in the front. But people who know, grab that seat as fast as they can get it. Once I was first on the plane, but I could tell the guy behind me was hoofing it as fast as he could to try to beat me to it. He tried to be tricky by moving in to grab it from jumping into a row in front of it to toss his bag onto it, but I tossed my bag there a little quicker…I’m usually not competitive as far as getting the ultimate seat, but I’d worked all night and was REALLY tired. And who tries to move in on your seat from behind, really! 