In your case you should use seat guru and pick airlines and seats that better suit you.
In general southwest has better leg room than !any of the other airlines.
But united has economy plus with more leg room.
Exactly right. That Seat Guru site is a godsend. It also shows the overhead areas. I always traveled with one small overhead bag, even if going for 5 days. And I’d go for the window seat. A little extra room on the side and the 3” of recline allows me to catch a few zzz’s on a coast to coast flight. Didn’t always work when I had to fly on a day’s notice but the old Frequent flyer miles added up and eventually started getting decent upgrades. I made a promise to myself that if I did go anywhere on vacation, I would book 1st class.
United is bearable on short domestic hops but absolutely intolerable on long overseas flights. I flew United once round trip. I won’t get on one again. I am totally a cheapskate but I spend 2-300 more to go on KAL and HKVN than I could make the trip on United. I have flown the same trip on Southwest and Delta. Both are cramped but the staff isn’t surly. They are tolerable-just. You can’t beat an Asian airline, except, of course, Malaysian Air. It has some other problems that seem to be unique to it.