You've made assertions about the Hermes pitch attitude in the cruise before. It did"nt stagger along at a noticebly high pitch attitude in level fligh, otherwise, there would have inebitabily have been stalling accidents. Never happened
The nose up pitch attitude may have been reflective of the wing incidence being set too low, increasing the incidence would have lowered the nose attitude. Pitch attitude in such a case is no indication of relation to stalling propensity. Not the first time such an adjustment has been made.
David's comment "The hosteses had a number of comments about the incline" indicate it flew in a nose high attitude. He also mentions the aircraft was under powered, once again indicative of a high pitch attitude being required for the cruise.