Originally Posted by karthik
I would imagine KE offers the better product by far, from my extremely pleasant experiences with them in J on multiple long and short haul flights between the US, Australia/New Zealand, and Asia, as well as within Asia. I haven't ever been on an AF long-haul flight in any class, though the attitude of short-haul European J flight attendants was simply average.
I have made a few flights on KE J and just did one in F. Last year I took AF in F with both old and new seats. I ahve experienced AF J many time, but not been in their new J seats. I have seen them when I did fly a 777-300ER with new seats in F. My experience on KE F was with the old seat and between Japan and ICN. Given this, here are my observations:
Yes KE J is better than AF J but only if you can get the new seats. The old seat physically hurt my back (you can feel the metal bar in the middle of the seat pushing your back). As far as F, I was EXTREMELY disappointed. I know they serve Krug on all F flights except for Japan and China. I did not get the good Champagne but AF's champagne offering now is not worth mentioning.... The food was no better than a Y food offering 10 years ago on a US airline... The seat was OK, went almost flat and you can sleep in it, but nothing great.
And the major trouble with KE... They do not care to hydrate you. Wine in J never comes with the meal, is served in a tiny glass and the same is true for water. After meal service, the FAs disappear, and you never get offered any more drink.
AF's F service between IAH and CDG was superb. And it was also good on CDG-BLR.
AF is not always consistent, but overall I would prefer AF F over KE's. For J, I will take KE with the new seats, but NEVER with the old seats.