Over the past year I've flown quite a few round trips on EK and BA in business and one round trip on QR in business.

Here are some general comparisons following my QR experience a few weeks ago. I hopped over to London (LGW) for the weekend from Dubai (where I'm currently working) and tried QR in J due to competitive pricing; an excellent experience all round. Some notable observations were:

- Excellent meal service with individual courses and full tableware. Amuse bouche, cheese course and (gasp!) dessert This knocks spots off BA.

- No trolley service at all; everything delivered by tray. Addressed by name at all times.

- Good choice of wines and liqueurs (including a full wine presentation service).

- Fantastic FAs who were extremely attentive throughout all 4 QR legs. Again, I think BA's crews can be excellent but inconsistent; I often feel like a burden in CW if I use the call button.

- Multiple hot/cold towel runs. A minor point but very welcome.

- PJs on the overnight from DOH-LGW.

- Sloping seats on the A340 and A330 legs (3 out of 4 legs). Generally ok and I managed to sleep but substantially inferior to NGCW. And of course, there is no 747 with QR.

- However the new J on the 777 DOH-DXB was excellent. Completely flat and very spacious.

- A good late night snack service on the short 40 min hop from DXB-DOH (and back).

- Fantastic premium terminal at DOH. The downside, however, is that all of the aircraft seem to be parked at remote stands which are 10-20 mins away. QR do put on luxury coaches for premium pax, however, and I believe BMW 7 Series for ticketed F pax.

The price amounted to about GBP 1300. BA wanted almost as much for WT+ for the same dates. I booked Thursday evening at 7pm and was in the airport awaiting my flight to DOH by 11pm.

All in all, a very good value proposition and one which I wouldn't hesitate to pay for again (even with the stopover in DOH). Unfortunately, as much as it pains me to say this (as a past BA loyalist), I am finding NGCW less and less appealing these days.