Again, it's much less the meal, and more the rest of it.

The plastic cups are tiny. Even if I'm okay with "just water" on a 5 hour flight, the number of times I had to ask for a refill was too damn high. At one point I got up, and asked for some more, and asked if I could just chug a few cups. They obviously had no issue with it, but I think in that one trip to the galley, they had to refill my cup 4 times.

How much do I value a water bottle at my seat when I board? Very little in monetary terms. But I do place high value on having something to drink for the hour between boarding and drink service.

It's the same as Coke Zero. I could easily buy enough for the flight, airside, for $20 (at airport prices). But not knowing that would be necessary (and therefore not being able to do it) is extremely annoying. And the time and energy required to do it has value as well.

For SFO-YYZ on a flight where I plan to work (like yesterday), I probably value a fully-stocked drink cart at around $50.

I had to eat a $40 meal (post-tip; again - airport prices) at SFO because I knew there would be no meal on the flight, so that's $40 (though I was given meal vouchers at check-in for $40). Plus the time I had to spend in a restaurant in a "confined space" (I couldn't easily have my plate and my laptop out) instead of working in the MLL is probably another $50 to me.

So I guess I value the catering on SFO-YYZ at $140 USD.

But again, it's much more the time and hassle it saves me than it is about the quality or cost of the service items.

If they'd had one regular glass (with everyone else getting plastic), and they auctioned it off on the flight (for use on the flight - no taking it home), I probably would have bid $10.

I don't fly J because I want $30 of liquor and $10 of food. I fly J because it means I can think about things that matter to me, and let the airline handle the rest.