Premium economy to MUC out of CLT always annoys me because the legs that hold the seats up can possibly be right in the middle of your under-seat space, making putting a briefcase under the seat in front of you impossible (the legs are unevenly spaced throughout the row so not all seats lose the space). They also have those fold-down footrests that I never actually use and take up more space. Paying more for a seat in which I might not even be able to access my work laptop is a bit annoying.
I feel like any class of seating except business suffers from that "near seat storage shortage". I tend to carry a soft sided satchel instead of a case for the reasons you state: it can be jammed pretty much anywhere
Well in this case on the return flight I’m usually booked regular economy, and regular economy has no under seat space loss. I’m able to work the entire flight back from Europe on the cheaper ticket.
Man, I sound like a diva.