I mostly fly longhaul Y and J. I did fly AF extensively many years ago.

But there has been two trends. First the quality of the longhaul products has seriously deteriorated relative to competition. 10 across in Y, outdated J seats, inconsistent service, poor service on internet and on the ground. Then the April 2009 fool hit and the attractive awards in F de facto disappeared. The burn/earn ratio becoming significantly inferior to my other FFPs. So I already privilege other airlines. But that new hit (at least 25% increase in J award with "variable" higher levels) makes it unbelievably bad.
I fail to understand what they try to achieve by this further downgrading of FB.

Can anyone tell me on what dimension AF is not inferior to other major airline on longhaul?

Price is the only that comes to mind (I am talking about longhaul fares from Asia).
But their corporate rates in premium cabins are not cheaper than some of the good airlines and our company who send executives around the world do care about their well being and ability to work after a long flight.