I believe the angle the photo was taken at is causing much of the deception. If I look at this photo of CX J, http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0735602/M/ , it also appears cramped. Now, I have spent enough time in CX J to know I am comfortable enough to get decent nights sleep in their seats. There are others here who apparently have the gift of being able to judge comfort based on a single, one dimensional photo. I will have to wait and see how the AA seat is after spending some time BIS. I do, however, HATE the large eagle on the inside of the shell. To me it looks very tacky.