To be fair though, according to Seatguru.com, Lufthansa are the most 'efficient' in terms of seating - that is, you will have the least leg-room etc. on a Lufthansa flight. The precise airplane model doesn't matter, they always have the least space for a passenger.

Bonus for when you press the steward summons button and an angry balding German steward (who nonetheless has a ponytail) turns up half an hour later and demands to know what you want, and when you say "water, please", asks angrily "You vant vasser?!" like you just asked to bone his Mum.

I know this is anecdotal but it made me chuckle because this was exactly my experience as well. There is barely enough legroom for me (and I'm not all that tall, 185 cm or 6'1" in freedom units), and I managed to spill a bit of coffee by accident since I basically have to play tetris with my limbs. Up comes a strict German stewardess and proceeds to berate me saying that "it's a brand new carpet, just installed last week!". I was so stunned by this that all I could blurt out was "You think I did this on purpose?".

I remember being parked at the gate on a Lufthansa flight. The passenger next to me was on her cell phone finishing up a call. An angry stewardess marched over to yell at her for being on the phone and said "It is against German law!". The passenger, being a New Yorker, she just said "We're not in Germany honey". I thought they were going to drag her off the plane, but the stewardess marched off in a huff. I avoid Lufthansa whenever I can. They are usually overpriced, and they confuse Teutonic efficiency with customer service.

> The passenger, being a New Yorker, she just said "We're not in Germany honey". I thought they were going to drag her off the plane, but the stewardess marched off in a huff.

Lucky passenger, disobeying a crew member is illegal in the United States. United would've just pulled another Dr. Dao.

While terrible customer service, I can appreciate the steward’s care for the equipment.

> To be fair though, according to Seatguru.com, Lufthansa are the most 'efficient' in terms of seating - that is, you will have the least leg-room etc. on a Lufthansa flight. The precise airplane model doesn't matter, they always have the least space for a passenger.

Honestly I thought cattle class on the Lufthansa A380 was quite a step up from the domestic long haul offerings. The A380 runs higher humidity and is significantly quieter (inside and out) than many of its contemporaries. The leg room wasn't spectacular, but that's true of most carriers.

The food on Lufthansa, even on the short segments like FRA-CDG, puts anything you'd find on a domestic carrier to shame. United in particular has utterly revolting food.

Considering the parent mentioned showers and bars, he/she probably flies first class from time to time.

Some carriers (Etihad, Emirates, Singapore Airlines) have very impressive FC setups on the A380, with other aircraft having a stripped down/smaller version.

I have a similar view on the A380, but I love being a passenger on them more than any other plane. The extra leg room is what wins over for me and as I fly Emirates the in flight entertainment is brilliant.

For me it’s a shame we are seeing a decline of these planes. I loathe to think the industry is going to go back to less leg room, more seats and feeling like cattle.

When I'm flying Emirates, the censorship on the IFE is hilarious. Watching the Gotham TV series, and they kept censoring the word "lesbian".

Also, the Wolf of Wall Street Emirates style is significantly shorter (they cut all the scenes with extensive hookers and cocaine) and when Margot Robbie walks out nude they cropped the image and zoomed in on her face only, albeit with extensive pixellation.

But hey, at least Emirates will never tell you that you've had too much to drink, unlike Singapore Airlines.

Perhaps the extensive pixelation and cropping might have been due to having too much to drink ;)

Seats are arranged by the carrier, not the AirBus itself. Seat pitch in Singapore Airlines and Emirates is quite comfy

I've flown the A380 with Emirates a bunch of times in economy and it was quite nice. Much more quieter and a lot more space. They also gave bassinet seats for my infant which made a huge difference on a 10 hour flight.

That is my experience too. With emirates I can actually sit in an economy seat in a 380 without destroying my knees (looking at you Lufthansa, you can do it too in you 380s). A trip to Tokyo recently I did the first stretch in a 380 and the second in a 777 and the 777 was horrible compared to the 380: less seat space (I think about 1 to a bit less than 2 inches), less overall room. Though still more room than most airlines offer.

Indeed, my only A380 experience was with Emirates and I assumed that they were all set up in the same way. I tend to fly Virgin Atlantic long haul and will at least upgrade to their premium (business) class, but economy on an Emirates A380 is comparable IME and to be honest I doubt I'd waste money paying to upgrade if I flew with them again.

VS’s Premium is a Premium Economy product, not a Business class product — that’s their Upper Class. Not looking to be pedantic, but it’s priced as Premium Economy, shows up on OTAs as PE, and is virtually identical to any other PE.

I'm doing London -> New Zealand on an A380 with Emirates next month, with a bassinet for a 14 month old infant.

We're a bit worried that he may end up being too big for it. That, and keeping them entertained for two long flights.

14-months may be pushing it -- they have a stated weight and height limit but in practice it depends if your steward cares or not. Over weight/height isn't going to break the bassinet, we had ours with the legs hanging over the edge. Some stewards though whenever there is turbulence will ask you to take your baby out so you can cover them with a seat-belt. When they are sleeping this is not ideal. On a long flight, this can happen a lot (the seat-belt light turns on, even if you barely feel a bump from turbulence afterwards). We ended up saying "ok, sure" when they come and ask, and then when they walk off we just wouldn't do anything. All in all, I found travelling with an infant pretty OK. Depending on what time your flights are, they might sleep a good 8 hours in the bassinet!

Ours was 14 months when we flew and one flight attendant complained about it but the rest didn't seem to care. We were doing London-Dubai.

I've only flown the A380 twice, once in business and once in Lufthansa's economy. Had the same experience as you in economy, never felt more like cattle. I'll take the 787 any day.

> the boarding process is chaotic and takes forever,

Yeah, LH is awful at boarding, especially in airports without the automated gates like TXL (the airport being a gigantic bag of hurt nonetheless)

For long hauls I'd always recommend to upgrade to Premium Economy. It's not quite first class, but it's much better than regular economy imho.

Really? I've flown both Premium Economy and Economy (>10 flights each I believe) for Delta, as well as both on a few other carriers, and I've never noticed a difference that was worth more than $20 in my mind. (Most of these were long-haul.) If it's free or very cheap, then sure, but it's such a small benefit that I've been on flights where I didn't even notice I was in Premium Economy until I stood up at the end of the flight.

In American carriers, "Economy Plus" or similar is just a little bit of more leg room, in the standard 3-4-3 or 3-3-3 configuration.

For companies like Lufthansa, SAS and others - premium economy is closer to what Business Class used to be 20 years ago. You get an amenity kit, better food selection with real cutlery, nicer pillow and duvet, and a much nicer seat - usually in a 2-2-2 configuration.

Huh! I've flown Premium Economy with a few European carriers (Air France, KLM and two others I believe?) and didn't notice anything different. Food on KLM/AF is always good though. I've never flown Premium Economy in Lufthansa or SAS (as far as I can remember.) And I've never seen a duvet on a plane even in first class! Are there actually airlines with duvets or just nicer quality blankets?

The differences I've mainly noticed in premium economy are: electrical outlets, nicer in-flight entertainment, more legroom/better reclining, nicer head cushion, closer to the front (if that's a benefit) and that's about it. Amusingly, I've found on Delta the "premium economy" section occasionally extends slightly outside, e.x. the electrical outlets and better in-flight entertainment (but not the legroom) aren't only for premium economy but also 2 or 3 rows of normal seats beyond. Which is a little strange, since I would think Delta would use the opportunity to present that as an upgrade (paid, or free as a goodwill gesture) but I've only ever seen them labeled and sold as normal seats.

There are indeed carriers that now provide much nicer bedding. I fly mostly Delta and United, and United has definetively the best bedding not the routes I fly (mostly to South America and occasionally Europe). In business class you get a blanket, a duvet, two pillows and you can request a mattress pad. Delta has a nice heavy blanket that I usually sleep on top of and a pillow.

Both carriers in the process of upgrading their seats in business class and adding a true premium economy product, not what delta calls comfort plus, which is really just more leg room at the front of the economy cabin. The true premium economy product is much closer to the premium economy that has been available on other carriers (emirates, cathay pacific, etc...) for a while and has better seats, food is served on plates, etc... It's not to far off from what one might get in a domestic first class.

"Premium Economy" seems to be a Virgin Atlantic thing and is basically their business class. It includes much larger seats, premium in-flight entertainment, nicer toilets, and a much better food and drink selection. The section on the aircraft I've flown on is also much smaller (50 seats?) and curtained off from the unwashed masses.

Agreed that a lot of airlines off an "economy plus" which is basically slightly faster boarding and slightly more legroom and that this isn't worth paying the extra for.

> "Premium Economy" seems to be a Virgin Atlantic thing and is basically their business class.

Neither of these statements is true.

Well, I bought Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic and what I got was an exit door seat - that was ok, but it was all it was. No better food or anything else.

Are you by any chance confusing premium economy and VA's Upper Class? (Which is basically business class on other airlines, if not first.)

Also, since upgrades are to the next higher seat class only, with PE you stand the chance of getting moved to J, on the rare occasions the stars line up correctly and you get it for free, or of course if you pay for it at check-in, or if you have status, etc.

Cathay Pacific has terrific Premium Economy seats on their 777s.

did you fly first class in an A380? it's amazing

It probably depends on the airline.

My Emirates experience of the A380 was incredible vs a decidedly crappy experience in a Qantas A380.

The former made me love the A380, top of the list. The latter made me hate it.

Love that plane technically though. Smooth. Relaxed. Quiet. Relatively spacious.