I agree that the EK F suite could have some improvements given the age of the basic design of the product, and of course there is no "correct" answer, I think that F is still a superior product to all of the J offerings that EK have to offer, especially on the newer planes.
I agree if you have ancient F then there may be issues - for instance you state that the resolution of the screen was poor, but the majority of the fleet have HD screens and IFE servers that can stream content to take advantage of that.
For the other issues:
- I agree two bags can sometimes cause a bit of an issue, but I have just travelled with 3 and didn't find it problem. I appreciate this is an entirely personal thing and some people enjoy having nothing in their way by their feet.
I think having no overhead bins is an acceptable price to pay for the ambience of a higher cabin ceiling feeling. The crew can usually find storage if it's a serious issue.
- Only the mattress can fit in the A380 side bins. In F and J the cushion is placed on the seat, with a blanket wrapped in plastic. I think the thick duvet you get in F is superior to the thinner blanket you receive in J even though in F it is placed behind you out of sight when seated in TTL position. The mattress in F is also superior in quality to the J mattress, imho.
- The door controls can be annoying if you use the in seat button, definitely.
The entire suite function can be individually controlled from the seat tablet though - 9 separate seat functions incl. massage, door opening closing, DND sign lights, etc. and it would be a failing on the part of the crew not to explain that to you.
I didn't have an issue with any gap on my last few F flights, so that is probably poor maintenance. The doors can also be opened and closed manually if needs be (but obviously this shouldn't pop up in F as it should just work).
- For me, seat comfort has a lot to do with width and I think you will find it hard to find anyone else who shares your view that EK J seats are superior to EK F seats. But YMMV of course!
- There is an in seat area attached to the bar/table enclosure which has more storage than the J A380 minibar seat storage. Was that not suitable? I find that much better than any EK J product seat storage especially as it is closeable.
- EK have the best IFE in the sky, imho - only a very, very small minority of aircraft have the ancient IFE with poor resolution. The vast majority of the fleet have a great hard and soft IFE product compared to what's available in the sky atm.
- The food is certainly average.
- The alcohol is certainly excellent.
- I personally despise ottomans as they are fixed and take up space, and find if you use the seat individual control on the tablet you can create much better leg space (or sit cross-legged if that's your thing). As you say though, entirely personal thing and I know many people who love ottomans.
In any case, it is good that on FT that we have a wide range of views! Thanks for the report.