Originally Posted by
Maestro Ramen
I don't know if you have a bit of loyalty bias going on here, but as far as hard product is concerned I find that J seats across all airlines are decently comfortable, if you exclude the angle flats that AF still flew until last year. The best hard product I've flown personally was actually A350 on Iberia, because they gave you a matress topper and that made a world of difference. I know AF have recently introduced these but haven't had the chance to get one. The worst seats are probably BA and UA now if they still do 8 in a row? Sadly I haven't had the "chance" to fly these, or TK for what matters What's so bad about TK seats?
Then there is the 2-2-2 layout that you have on LH (And until very recently on KL) that bother many, but that's only an issue if you travel solo, and even then it's not that big an issue tbh (just pick middle seat)
The huge difference is the soft product, and whilst we will agree that AF offers one of the best, KL is miles below. Turds on a plate for food and €8 wine on the wine card a complete insult. Delta was not great. SK is not great either. I don't really see what ST has that is so much more special than other alliances, not that the other alliances are necesarily better either. I flew SQ ages ago in Y and was totally wowed by the service and catering. More recently in J and was disappointed. LX is to *A what AF is to ST imho, with consistently good catering.
Long story short, I don't think there's a magic quality alliance that stands above the others. But as I'm about to fly *A a lot more, maybe I will come back here screaming, we will see
BA has invested a lot, they have all LHR fleet refurbished except the A380 but fees for seat selection without status kills them as an option for me. I agree on Iberia. Had to take them in late 2023 as emergency from EZE and it was indeed great flight in comfortable bed on A350 - no door but someone told me the seat is a little bit better since the plane was supposed to go to some Chinese airline that did not take delivery. I am not really sure seats on LX or OS are good since you either have to pay for throne or you have a neighbour anyway. LH 2-2-2 is a complete joke, KL old seats were different league imho, way more comfortable and did not feel like footsie game. I also know LH group lounges since I was Star Gold for years and whilst we can not say anything good about situation in AMS, it is not their strong game either.
That might be my bias. But to answer what ST has that is special - for me as EU based person without transpacific flying and a few random hops around Asia, AF KL offer the best seat in the industry, both airlines 1-2-1 with a few old 330 flying to either holiday destinations where you anyway most likely fly with someone else which makes the configuration great, nice lounges in Paris in case of longer layover, pretty efficient AMS in case of short layover and perfect pro customer oriented Plat line in case I screwed up or the airline did.
I had star gold for many years as well as I used to be Sapphire and later on Emerald for a year or two with OW but AFKL (ST) just hit different.