I'm 6'7" too so I definitely feel your pain. If you are a Delta flyer, getting elite status is critical and the good thing is that you don't need to step foot on a plane. You could have Silver medallion for simply getting an Amex Platinum and advancing yourself the 50,000 points needed to qualify for
this promotion which would get you silver (read- free exit rows) until February 2013.
Otherwise, be super nice to gate agents and flight attendants and you should be fine. I recently did 3 TATLs on 757s and while its not comfortable, the trip it totally doable in exit or bulkhead.
FYI I flew
KLM economy comfort recently and it was fantastic (for an economy product). Air France's premium economy also looks nice and you get 150% MQMs and those fares are sometimes only a couple hundred more.