Originally Posted by
af fp
Can we rather say that premium economy brings back the standards of economy in the 50s?
The width and seat pitch of CX PEY are more like the economy seat of the wide body ("Jumbo") jet of the early 1970's through to the mid 1980's when it was 9-abreast 3x4x2 very spacious configuration on the 747, and also the L1011. Pan Am even had a dinning lounge on its upper deck for its first class passengers. It's so "civilised" to be called by the "stewardess" that dinner was ready to be served upstairs at the dinning lounge rather than at your seat.
No, the PEY is nowhere near the old style international J seat of the 1990's but perhaps closer to the current North American F/J seats with the new AA pod excepted.
Sorry don't know what economy standards were like in the 50's. My first CX flight was on a Lockheed Electra from Hong Kong to Singapore.