Originally Posted by lhrsfo

I agree with the OP's post, but wonder whether it's also tied up with the clash between expectations and reality. As a customer, I expect a lot from a very expensive premium international service - the premium in price over economy is huge and it's two classes up. But with a TCON, it's one class up and generally the premium price over economy is much less. But, it should be much easier to create a more premium ambience in a smaller cabin than in the huge flying dormitories that are business class nowadays. The FAs have large numbers of customers to look after and, eastbound certainly, there's massive pressure just to get on with it so that people can get to sleep. In those circumstance, even if the food were identical, it would seem worse on the longer flight.