I found this one of the most interesting and thought-provoking posts we've had in the forum for quite a while. Thanks to OP ^.

Most of the observations, IMHO, are spot-on : LX C is nothing special (LX crew robotic, really ?), the *A lounge is a bit of a hole when it's busy, UA can be good when it tries, US is patchy (maybe "rubbish" is a better descriptor of US than "budget"), Red carpet clubs are dreadful, and the PHL US Envoy lounge (once you get past the snarly dragon on the door) is a gem.

It's a very astute observation that it's often some minor, seemingly trivial, service detail of the flight that can make or break the experience. I had the same last week : a lovely flight with TG C, then stepped onto TK C, same seat, same pitch, very similar IFE, very good food, yet I spent the first half of the flight gently simmering because of a simple service issue when I boarded : the purser on the door was on the intercom and ignored me, I hovered in her eyeline expecting at least to be greeted, maybe shown to my seat, but she just turned away. So I sat myself down, and a couple of minutes later she walked down the aisle, with a face a few of us would recognise as the "TK-gob" on her, and again I was ignored. The 4 C crew (including the one in that rediculous chef's hat) then busied themselves for several minutes setting up the bar at the front of the cabin, again ignoring all the passengers. Fortunately service picked up after that, but the flight experience was spoilt.

Don't let this put you off : there are many many super flights to be had out there.