How do various First Class products compare?
 

Looking to possibly book a RTW ticket in either C or F.

How do the various Star Alliance carriers stack up these days in terms of their F offering?

Is it worth the price difference on a RTW?

How restricted is availability (if at all) of seats in F on a RTW?

FRWSTARx books into A booking class. On some routes easily available and on others impossible (eg SQ A380 has zero A booking class ever).

Many *A airlines have no first class - these would book into business class instead.

Some *A first class is excellent (eg SQ longhaul product), some average (eg TG) and others terrible (eg UA).

Depending on your routing and where the RTW is purchased from you may or may not get good value by buying F instead of C.

From my experiences:

For * Alliance, The longhaul F on LH is very good and has good availability.

The F on SQ can be difficult for availability, as the new F suites are actually an R booking code and therefore not available on an F RTW ticket.

Thai is good, but TG often flies 2 class aircraft (C and Y) on alot of their routes.

It is almost impossible to get on SA for a RTW, even in business for an F RTW ticket.

ANA has an excellent F product on their 773s.

My ranking:

1. SQ longhaul. The new product is excellent (777, never tried 380), the older 747 product very good

2. ANA - i think they have the new seats on all longhaul flights. A little too much privacy when you fly with somebody, otherwise excellent

3. Lufthansa: Airbus is good, 747 does not have enough privacy

4. Asiana (only tried the old F). Substandard seats, but good service

5. UA. Did not try the new F product.

6. SQ on regional planes (like the ones they use to Cairo