Let's try an EXPERIMENT!
Take the highest-paying airline you know. Find their biggest aircraft. Find out the hourly flight pay of the most senior crew on said aircraft.
(I used United before The Troubles, the 747-400, and approximately $450 American an hour.)
Divide said hourly total by number of seats on board. This is your hourly crew cost per seat. Again, just an estimate, but about $1.50 American.
Multiply by a the duration of the longest flight you can think of. I came up with UAL's short-lived JFK-Hong Kong route from about 2 years ago. 15 hours.
The RESULT: each passenger paid the flight crew about $22.50 American for their flight. I'm by no means sure of this, but I'd bet their meals cost more than that.
QED. Now, what did I miss?