Originally Posted by
climmy
Avoid rows 9 middles and row 10 for sure.
I often fly in 9H rear-facing middle and have no problem with it. It's quiet, and no one is staring into your face from two rows behind. (Whereas if you're in 6J, for example, the guy in 8H will be in your face the whole way.)
I know that some say to avoid row 10 because crew tend to like to relax there, but I've never had that problem. Whenever I've ridden 10J (aisle), it has been very quiet, but I've also been able to chat to FAs in the galley if I wanted to.