Hi Mike,
I traveled from California to have bilateral resurfacing with Dr Gross. I was in the hospital on Monday, with surgeries on Monday and Wednesday, discharged to the nearby motel on Friday, and flew back to California on Saturday.
For my surgeries, I flew United which I don't recommend. They fly you past Columbia to Washington DC (Dulles), and then fly back to Columbia, so the travel time is longer than on an airline which would go more directly through Atlanta (like Delta). On my return trip to California, there were thunderstorms in DC which delayed my flight out of Columbia. I ended up missing my flight from DC to California and had to wait 6 hours for another flight. It ended up taking 16 hours to get home. That was a long day.
When I went back for my follow up appointment, I flew Delta. The flights were shorter and there were no delays. Some people recommend flying in and out of Charlotte and driving to and from Columbia.
I had 2 experiences with bulkhead seating. In the first, the bulkhead (the wall in front of me) went all the way down to the floor. This gave me no room to stretch out my legs in front of me and was miserable. I ended up switching to a regular economy seat, and that was much better. If you are tall, be careful about choosing a bulkhead seat. (I'm 6' 4".) In my second experience, the bulkhead didn't come down all the way to the floor. It stopped about 2 feet above the floor, which gave me lots of legroom. That was very comfortable.
Good luck!
Dean