World Traveller = Pain? Ok, it's not great, but I can think of a LOT worse out there

As travellers, sometimes we have very rose tinted glasses on "how things were" and how "bad" things are today - when in some cases there is service degeneration. In other cases there are improvements (lets pick IFE out - from a crappy overhead projector to your own IFE at seat to Tablets at seat).

I do have an expectation of what I pay when I travel, but after travelling other airlines - my expectations are set low, so airlines can surprise me if they do a good job (like BA, BMI and Swisss do) or really scrape the barrel (United, US Airways, etc).

These days I have the minium expectations:
- A seat that won't break my back
- Legroom that's acceptable and my legs aren't up at my ears
- If Food is provided - it isn't burnt or soggy (although some airlines can do both at the same time - quite impressive)
- Staff who are friendly and seem to be happy to be there.

A reasonable set of standards. Alas, some airlines fail to even do this....