Thank you all for the advice.

Work-Shy, I will send you a PM once I make up my mind. Still doing last rounds of research... the only thing holding me back with EY is how easy it is to get EY miles if you are a resident in Abu Dhabi (with CityMiles, ADCB credit cards that give you miles not only on credit card use but also on your bank balance + TouchPoints etc) - despite my latest gripe with EY, I cannot deny that the my EY miles add up pretty quickly.

At the end of the day, for me, it'll come down to quality of Y and J class (service, F&B etc), the ease of earning miles and price. I'm leaning towards QR every day but I'll see how I go.

thanks again.