Hi FTers, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster.

What are the relative merits / quality of SFO to LHR on Virgin Upper Class, BA F / J, UA F / J, or DL BusinessElite via SEA? Not just best in general, but best bang for the buck given the hard and soft product (see est. prices below). I'm mostly after flat bed seating and a relaxing experience, but I'm willing to pay extra for a special experience just to try it.

Pricing out various options (some are "priced" based on estimating point redemption values + fees + top-off points purchases), I'm coming up with:

* DL BusinessElite via SEA (award ticket ~$2.5-3k pp)
* VS Upper Class direct ($4,334 pp w/ extra stopover in Paris)
* BA F direct ($6,146 pp w/ extra stopover, $5,504 pp no stopover, $5k in J)
* UA F direct ($5,504 pp no stopover, $5k in J)
[The extra stopover is something I want to do but could buy a la carte.]

My first instinct is VS Upper Class because it's direct and I'm not sure the extra money for others would be worth it. The extra $1.2k for BA F might be worth it to me IF I got "New First" but that's not a given. I haven't heard anything to convince me that UA would win out here. But maybe that's out of date. And how does DL BE compare to those?

Thoughts? In 2014, can someone give me a reasonably good ranking of these products? Thanks!