Although expecting the worst from KLM long haul catering I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality, even if the menu appears repetitive. My flights are infrequent enough for that not to be a problem. Short haul is somewhat the other end of the scale.

Air France try to be too fancy (for me) with their menus and could pare them done without losing anything (give me a decent carb with my beef next week instead of spicy carrot flan). Short haul much better than KLM.

Crews are mixed with some keen to please and others totally indifferent, but the same could be said about the Asian airlines, although probably to a lesser extent.

My flights originate in Asia too and as long as I'm flexible with dates I can usually find good prices - originating in Europe would be more expensive I've found.

Their Skyteam partners can't offer the connections/timings/routings to the provincial airports in Europe as well as AF/KLM.

I'd much rather go with QR/EK and split the journey up into two medium hauls, and although Asia covers a large area, my routes wouldn't overfly Russia anyway so no issue there.