Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

I can rule out the second option: whenever longhaul airlines have tried to delay the first meal it tends to cause mini riots. Particularly in WT the boredom factor kicks in early, assuaged somewhat when people get lost in IFE / their books / tablets etc later in the flight. But winding back to 45 minutes after take off, passengers will have been through a tedious experience at the airport, no fast track, no lounges, probably an excessively long wait at the gate too, no priority boarding, strapped in for take off. Then cabin crew appear with food and drink (albeit not of interest to this OP) and usually that fixes things nicely. Delaying the first meal is the worst of all options, even on flights that depart at 02:00 hrs in the morning.