I, too, thought that food pretty awful until I saw how difficult and expensive it was to produce. An airline foodservice kitchen, I learned on some tours, is an absolutely mind-boggling place, a minor miracle when it comes to detail management.

That epiphany didn’t make the food didn’t taste any better, but it gave me infinitely more respect for it and the people who managed it.

And then, in a cost-cutting measure, airline food all but disappeared a few years ago. Airlines thought, “Well, people don’t care about it anyway, so they’ll probably not miss it.”

That statement was only half accurate: People didn’t care about it, but in this culture of entitlement, airline travelers—especially those who subject themselves to that chore often—expected it and whined about its removal.

Airlines truly are damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

Now airline food is making a comeback, albeit in first class first. In a day when price is the key reason travelers select carriers—heaven knows the process of redeeming the hard-earned frequent flyer miles is no fun—airlines believe food might become a tipping point when travelers find comparable rates for trips to the same place.

Famous restaurant chefs are serving as consultants to help flight kitchens make food more flavorful—a daunting task when served under high-altitude cabin pressure, I might add—and even crowing about their jazzed-up cuisines in business publications.

I don’t fly enough anymore to follow this progress closely, but I wouldn’t mind seeing some it floating back to the poor, tired masses crowded into coach. No matter how lame some of the stuff I ate in my busier days tasted, it sure beat what I brought on board, which was nothing.