I don’t think I’ve been served a meal on ANY domestic flight since the end of the 80s. However, when I flew Cathay Pacific on their All Asia Pass at the beginning of 2003, they had meals on EVERY flight. At one point, I flew from Hong Kong to Tokyo with a stop in Taipei. It takes a grand total of one hour to fly from Hong Kong to Taipei – and they STILL served breakfast on that flight, as well as serving lunch on the flight from Taipei to Tokyo! And how much did I pay for this? Flights from San Francisco to Hong Kong to Tokyo to Sri Lanka and back to San Francisco cost a total of $1288 including tax. How do they do it?
Ffft. An hour is difficult? I’ve done Manchester to Aberdeen, we can’t have had more than half an hour in the air, and they still do a hot breakfast, served by that single poor steward, to 80 men-in-suits (well, 79 plus me 
).
As pure anecdotal nonsense, I do remember the discussion a looong time ago, when Ryanair first started lfying Dublin - London, about ‘how can they save that much money?’. The answer is that it’s not just in meals. It’s not just in nice lounges. It’s not just in a few companies using you frequently. It’s about getting more people onto the planes.
Very true, especially on domestic runs. Flying from Fairbanks to DC in several hops, I began to hallucinate from lack of nourishment. On the other hand, if you fly Singapore Airlines anywhere, they feed you every two hours, whether you’re hungry or not. I swear, between DC and Hanoi, I gained about 4 pounds.
When I flew from D.C. to LAX on Alaska Airlines on a morning flight, I got served a cheese omelet with some hashbrowns, a sausage link and some grapes. That’s right, an actual full-blown meal. On the way back I think I was actually given a choice of two different sandwiches for lunch.
And that’s on top of it being a non-stop flight with tons of leg room that cost only a little more than $200. I don’t know why Alaska Airlines is so good, but they’re really on the ball.
Well, not exactly. First class is first class, and as far as I can tell, hasn’t changed much. Coach, on the other hand, seems to have changed quite a bit. Coach used, generally, to be more comfortable and have better service than it does today, but it still wouldn’t have been confused with first class.
Going on a long trip by plane is definitely one time when I’m glad that I never grew past 5’9".
I always get a meal on cross-country Air Canada flights; I was fed on a San Fran - Toronto leg just last month, and have gotten fed on that trip a few times. Also got fed on legs from Toronto to LAX, Toronto to Edmonton, and Toronto to Houston. Go figure.
On shorter flights they feed you cold meals for a price. (Eating it is payment enough, IMHO, but it still cost me seven dollars.)