AAE only operate the 747 XL routes- so it wouldn't be us. We do own some of the smaller XL aircraft- but these are painted in XL liveries and operated by XL staff, they are just leased to XL. That sounds awful and I truly sympathise- but I've never seen the inside of any of the a/c so I can't really comment- I think they do operate the long haul routes with the same 757s and 767s though... perhaps you might write directly to the company and complain about your experiences- you never know... if enough people complain they may alter the seat pitchings... after all- if noone says anything of course they're going to try and cram in as many fare-paying pax as possible!