I mean no offense, but honestly this seems like an odd thread to start. I mean, I fall in the camp that enjoys a drink or two on a flight, but I wouldn't say it's hugely important to me and I can live with out it. And I'm certainly not one to have a myocardial infarction should I find out I'm being served sparkling wine and not Champagne (oh, the horrors!!).

But that said, I'd imagine that for those who do find it important, they probably equally wonder why you do not find it important? So... why don't you find it important? Why don't you care?

Several responses in this thread are from people that say they don't drink and would rather the money be spent on better food? Why do they care about food so much? Why do they want higher quality food?

But in the spirit of attempting to answer your question, with my own opinion/observation; one thing I've noticed from my many years on FT is that there is a greater than average percentage of FTers that perhaps want to live "vicariously" through airport lounges and premium cabins in a way that their own personal budgets do not allow for at home (or if being paid for by an employer as opposed to paying with their own money). Someone who can comfortably afford to drink Dom Pérignon at home on the occasions that they want to are perhaps less concerned with gulping down as much of it as humanly possible in an airport lounge on the occasion that their employer is sending them on an international business trip.

For me, in almost all cases, the quality of wine/spirits and food I have in my home (or restaurants that I eat out at) exceeds anything I'll receive on a plane (except in rare cases, on certain carriers), so in some sense, I just don't obsess about it as much. But for others, there expectations are out of whack relative to the commercials, marketing, and historical hype around premium cabin flying...

Regards