Just finished reading the whole thread and there are a lot of thoughts out there. IMHO, any experience we face WRT airlines/hotels, service industry in general is always relative & subjective to many factors. I say, service industry because I still work in a service industry, albeit in a casual capacity.
Relative because as humans we tend to compare things. For instance, the bread roll was warmed up last time I flew with XX, not this time, so I was not able to spread the butter properly - absolutely pathetic service, why can't the crew warm the bread roll before service or leave the ice cream to thaw before dessert service? Or, the classic - the serving of fresh chilli alongside squid in the F lounge - MEL does it, but SYD doesn't (or the other way around, can't remember). Does it mean MEL does it better than SYD? May be, may be not ... IDK, depends on the person who consumed the dish and what they thought of it ...
Subjective because as many posters here rightly (IMHO, again) pointed out - the service received/consumed largely depends on the mood a person is in. You have a bad day at work, traffic on the way to the airport, app doesn't work, so had to queue for check-in, then flights delayed - after all this, if you received a cold/solid bread roll in J (after paying all that $$$), you may feel angry/frustrated/let down ... and chances are it's not simply because that the bread roll was cold, it is possible perhaps all the bad experiences of the day catching & culminating with the cold bread roll being that "straw that broke the camel's back" ... may be I'm exaggerating? I'm not sure ... it is subjective
For me, personally, if I get a decent service - less waiting time for check-in, less queue at security, shadow-stuck (if lucky and I have been very lucky in 2023), decent GT or a decent PN (I can picture
@Cruiser Elite rolling his eyes
), decent vego meal, decent wait time for bags to arrive - I'm happy and that is all I expect out of the trip flying any airline. In 2023, I flew QF, VA, JQ, ZL, TG, 6E, UL, MH, SQ and all I wanted was to get to my destination within a reasonable time and with reasonable comfort (and I fly Y majorly, Dom/Int)
All of the above is long winded way of saying what I mentioned at the beginning of the post - all experiences (IMHO) we face is a reflection of what we endured before or after experiencing that experience and what that experience made us experience ...
If I offended anyone, I do apologise