I appreciate your insight, however just a few points:

a) The seat pitch in first class versus coach was non-existent. One paid for the width of the seat and the class of service.

b) Airline meals back then were still terrible. I used to fly NYC (when I lived there) to LAX all the time. The flight was noisy (those 707s were LOUD!), the "stews" were treated poorly and passing the time meant a book, a deck of cards or a fast-acting barbiturate to sleep.

c) Intercontinental on the 707 was no picnic in the park. It was cramped, usually too hot or too cold, and the seats were always rock hard. It was like flying ten hours in domestic first class. Even with the expanded menu, it wasn't much better than what is offered today.

Maybe it's just my advanced age speaking, but the ability to have AVOD, nicer 180-degree sleeper seats and especially wide-body jets with more room was a real God-send.

YMMV.