BNEA320/flyOFTEN,
You seem pretty concerned about the seat pitch and size of the seat back. To put your mind to ease the seats of the Qantas 717s were changed to "modern" slim back seats about 3 to 4 years ago that allowed them to increase the seating capacity of the all economy aircraft from 115 to 125 seats. Does this answer your question and help you get past the seat pitch issue?