I always like to approach these things by taking a step back and analysing at 5000'.

There are obviously a few airlines in the top tier, and that is normal as their market attracts big dollars and thus offer more premium products to differentiate themselves. These airlines are more niche, and AC is, in the end, an airline that need to offer a little of everything. Domestic, regional, long haul, 6th Freedom, tourist charter, etc.

For what I will call tier 2 airlines, over the last 20 years (since project XM) AC has been on the forefront of premium flying tends a little ahead of the European Carriers and several notches ahead of the US carriers. The US offerings of Flagship/Polaris/Delta One are late to the game and offer noting revolutionary. Simply catching up. Even in the LH group, nothing really markedly better in terms of hard product and some don’t even offer PY across their longhaul fleets. OK LH offers a real F, but the 2-2-2 foot fetish J (yes, outgoing) was never really in the mix. TK is also several steps behind in terms of hard product.

Another major factor: Euro-J sucks. Period.

One also needs to take a step back comparing aspects of hard products. Some don’t like J seat X and prefer J seat Y. There are people refusing to fly on certain J seats so this personal preference to the seat should not really factor in. And don’t get me started of the stupidity of doors. At minimum long haul J should be all aisle access an no more climbing over someone else and AC has been there for years

Admittedly, I’m more of a hard product guy as long (as the bar is properly stocked) so those who prefer the soft product could make assessments. Does TK’s catering make up for 2-3-2 angled flat seats on a 777? EK still has that configuration too. All endless debates fit for FT, of course

Crews are hit and miss on basically any airline. Humans are just that…human. I’ve had surly service on SQ and amazing service on TA. I’ve always found that if you’re nice to crew they tend to provide better service but that may just be a misconception on my part.

Bottomline. I have always placed AC in the upper end of the tier 2 airlines, a few notches above the US airlines and on par or better than anything in Europe (apart from F, of course) and I don’t need a click bait ranking to make me see that.