It seems to me as if you are all on the same page...
I do have to say that I'm glad to finally see postings from Eastern staff on this issue, instead of ex-regional f/a-s telling us what to do.
It may not seem like much of a suggestion, but one way to start is for all crew to communicate their preferences to their FAAA representatives, so fill in your EBA surveys people, if you haven't already done so.
Also, I've heard that NG is working on changing Eastern flying to include multi-day trips. If this happens, DTA might be better than meal allowances.
As for the 7 hour limit on the second day of an overnight, I'm with you easternboy. I wouldn't give it up, especially now that we are doing overnights with 5 sectors on the 1st day.