So true -- and as someone that has worked in the industry as a supplier to the global airlines -- I really doubt it is even $8.... This just shows you how litte UA cares about soft product. To cater for SQ / EK the meal cost was never more than $20 per J pax -- as a percentage of the ticket price it's mice nuts -- just shows you what UA thinks....

To give you an idea of the economics -- the ONLY variable cost to deliver food to an airplane is the food -- with an average of 300 PAX on a longhaul flight (assuming two meals) there are 500 meals for Y, 100 meals for J, and possibly 20 meals for F (which UA doesn't have to worry about)-- if you average the fixed costs per meal it's way cheaper to deliver a meal for J/F than Y per cart - WAY cheaper.... So the only real variable is food quality -- and given what we all see on UA it's clear what UA spends lol....

The cost for the truck to deliver the carts to the plane is fixed and pre-negotiated -- and if you average the cost per meal the cost to cater J on UA is practically nothing.... If you accept that half the profit / revenue on the average long haul comes from J passengers -- it's really crazy to think of how little UA thinks of it's soft product value....