naxos-- I agree that the industry standard seat pitch of 31" isn't acceptable for anyone who is at all tall. I have heard from people over 6" that after long international or transcon flights, they actually need "recovery" time due to back or leg pain. To be honest, I am only 5'7", and even I find 31" of seat pitch very uncomfortable.

The problem is that increasing seat pitch throughout the cabin is something I don't see a lot of airlines doing, in spite of AA's recent moves. The airlines have decided on the business model they want to follow in terms of how many seats to cram into a plane, and any changes will be driven by a) economics or b) government regulation-- not by any voluntary gesture of good will toward the comfort of passengers. I believe the CEO of Continental said recently, in response to UA and AA's increased seat pitch, that their planes are all flying full, and unless that changes they will not take out any seats. I suspect that if it weren't for projected overcapacity (increased number of seats due to new aircraft but not as large of an increase in passengers), UA and AA would NOT have increased more seat pitch. Even Asian airlines such as CX and SQ-- long heralded for their generous Y seat pitch-- are starting to cut back to 32".