And the latest airline to (more or less) stop releasing first class award space is…

Like most award programs, I guess they want you to HOLD your points/miles so they can devalue them again - before you use them. At the end of the day, most carriers are obligated to have an awards program, but they would much prefer to have your butt at the back end of the airplane. Yep, at least by their accounting, giving up two coach seats for award use is better than even one First Class seat. Expect to see more of this downgrading on other carriers. Even when they do not sell all of their FC seats - and we know that the real costs associated with FC service about probably under 10% of the base fare (probably 5%-7%?), the don't want free loaders up front. They make enough Coach seats available to avoid any serious claims of non-delivery and they get away with it. Truth told, they just don't want you up front unless you are paying the real dollars that keep them slightly in the black. And yes, airline margins really are that tight. Anytime they have to refuse a seat to a fare-paying First Class pax, because the seat has been allocated on an award ticket, some poor planner does the $10k carpet dance. The only real surprise here is that availability does not open a bit at the very last minute, even with multiple seats available.
One always wonders about First Class Catering provisions... While it does not really cost them a lot when compared to the total fare, each head (or mouth) is an expense in real dollars. Try a few models and think about how YOU would cater the flight. We'll assume a ten hour flight that includes a major meal (some kind of dinner service), a minor meal (breakfast before landing?) and hot service snacks between the two services. We'll also assume a 8-seat First Class cabin, the airlines standard First Class menus for your flight and the season, (with beverage stocks excluded - because they are easy to adjust). We'll also assume they usual two or three first course choices, a choice of three entrees, bulk loaded salads and desserts. So how would YOU order catering for the First Class cabin of 8 seats:
With One confirmed passenger, I'd order:
With TWO confirmed pax, I'd order:
With SIX seats filled, I'd order:
With a Full House of EIGHT, I can take some guesses about what would be ordered, certain not three entrees x 8=24, but close to it. How the heck do they do it? I've been in FC seats where I was offered tons of extras (some worth the stuffing, some not) as well as paid FC seats where I was told, "Sorry, that's 'not available.'
You will have to make your own guesses about the real costs of catering for long haul, First Class seats. If flying on a no cost award ticket, I might be a bit forgiving about the 'sorry, not available response.' I've also flown on paid F-Class tickets (not my $, thank God!), and at that price, typically $8k-$10k or more, I do not expect to hear the words 'sorry,' or 'no,' during my flight. Five percent of an $8000 fare is $400. Seven percent is $560. One can do a LOT within those catering budgets and I'm reasonably sure that no airline budgets 7%, even when considering fluffy staff and amenity kits. Soooo, with ten hours, eight seats and one, two three, or eight seats expected, how would YOU provision the front cabin?
Of note: This silly inquiry is not directed toward our Master Poster, Ben, but is open to to all readers. I want to know how you would approach this. Yes, this is certainly a First world issue, but we CAN talk about it. And yes, I acknowledge that any reasonable answers will include some wasted food. I don't like waste, others need the food and that is simply not part of this question. Again, How would you provision the front eights seats with one, two, six and eight seats occupied, 24 hours before departure? Have fun!