Now that I have returned from this trip and had time to think about it, I wanted to give my overall thoughts on how all these bucket list products compared with each other. I’m not going to rank every aspect, but I will provide a “winner” for each of these categories. This will not include the short-haul flights I took, just the four longer flights on Emirates Gamechanger, Emirates A380, Qatar A380 and Etihad A380.

Best Seat: Gamechanger

This was the newest seat I flew and the best. It is adjustable in a myriad of ways and was super comfortable for a 14 hour flight. It also turned into a comfortable bed. It was by far the best seat for lounging and had a special setting for dining so I could quickly get into position and be close to the tray table. All of the seats were very comfortable, but Etihad’s doesn’t recline very much given the separate bed.

Best Bed: Etihad Apartments

This was the only seat of the four with a separate bed and it was very comfortable. I slept for a total of five hours which is pretty good for me, although being exhausted at the end of a long trip with limited sleep probably helped. The bench folds down electronically and then it looked like two separate mattress pads were placed on the bed. I didn’t feel any gaps or lumps in the mattress and it was just the right level of firmness. It’s a bit narrow, but being able to easily turn and sleep on my side or back makes this the clear winner.

Best Onboard Bar: Qatar A380

While the Emirates A380 bar was also fun (and had access to higher-end booze), I had a better time at the Qatar bar. I think this was probably due to the specific people on my flight and their willingness to socialize. This will always be subjective depending on your flight time and who is onboard.

Best Onboard Shower: Emirates A380

Even though I got to shower in the Residence on Etihad, the Emirates shower experience was better purely just because the bathroom is so huge. Having space to walk around and honestly not feel like you are even in an airplane bathroom was very nice. Etihad does get an honorable mention for slightly better water pressure.

Best Onboard Food: Emirates Gamechanger/A380 (tie)

The food on Emirates was a cut above the other two. I could find specific things to criticize on Qatar (dry chicken) and Etihad (sandpaper blinis), but really nothing on Emirates. If Gamechanger had the mezze available, I would have made it the clear winner thanks to the lobster tandoori, but since I managed to actually get the mezze on the A380, I’ll make it a draw. Emirates also had the best caviar service by a long way, although Qatar’s was pretty good with the added salmon.

Best Onboard Drinks: Emirates Gamechanger

As Gamechanger had the Mouton available (which is around $5-600 a bottle) and the A380 did not, I’ll give Gamechanger the nod here by a small margin. I didn’t even have any on this trip, but listing Dalmore King Alexander III as one of your First Class whiskey choices on all flights is quite an expensive choice by Emirates. Hennessy Paradis at $1300 a bottle is probably the most expensive bottle of anything regularly available on a commercial flight and I managed to enjoy it on both Emirates flights. I will add that none of the onboard champagnes on any of these carriers blew me away, but all were decent. I think Dom is a bit overrated to be honest.

Best Overall Lounge: Emirates First Class Lounge DXB Concourse B

After being a bit disappointed with the empty A Lounge, I found the B Lounge a bit warmer and more practical. The food options were great (although being there at breakfast limited my palate in ordering), the game room was fun and the spa was right in the lounge as opposed to having to go to the business class lounge like in A. Honorable mention to the Etihad First Class Lounge AUH for great food and service, but a negative mark for the noisy massage room.

Best Lounge Food: Etihad First Class Lounge AUH

This is a bit of an unfair comparison as I didn’t get a chance to try a steak or more substantial food at the Emirates lounges, but just based on what I ordered, the Etihad food was just about perfect. The scallop appetizer, perfectly cooked steak and chocolate dessert were all restaurant quality. Adding the Macallan Enigma as an unlisted whiskey option just topped it off. Honorable mention to Qatar Premium Lounge Bangkok for good sushi and great pad Thai.

Best Overall First Class Ground Experience: Tie

Surprisingly, I would put Lufthansa ahead of all these airlines in terms of the ground assistance provided like escorts through security and lounge transfers to the plane. (I haven’t flown Air France La Premiere which I understand to be the best in the world for this). I rate these airlines all about the same. They all have separate first class check-in and special security/immigration areas at their respective hubs. Qatar in Bangkok provides access to fast-track, but it’s not easy to find if you haven’t been there before. I never had an escort through security or immigration. I never had an escort to the lounge. My understanding is that Emirates does have a pretty good connecting assistance service if you are connecting directly from one flight to another, but I didn’t do that on this trip so I can’t comment on that. This is all first world problems and nothing I was bothered about by the way. Emirates Dubai Connect was a good service but this is not unique to First Class. Etihad chauffeur was a nice touch, especially on an award ticket. Qatar having a separate entrance to Al Safwa after first class security was a good addition to their ground experience.

Favorite Overall Experience: Emirates

If I never flew Qatar A380 or Etihad Apartments again, I wouldn’t be that bothered. I’ve done it now and they were nice, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it again. If it worked out that I was flying a route that they fly those aircraft and there was a marginal cost to do so, I would fly them again, but I wouldn’t book them specially again like this trip. They are actually fairly easy to book with miles (although Etihad miles has a terrible cancellation policy) if you want to give them a try.

As for Emirates, I would very much enjoy flying either Gamechanger or the A380 again. I am also looking forward to whatever product Emirates puts on their new 777X aircraft. Ironically, these are now the hardest products to fly with the restrictions on needing status to book first class awards or use Qantas miles. If my wife and I were going to fly somewhere and planning on flying Emirates, I would probably get their $99 credit card that provides status for a year to be able to book the seats rather than book through Qantas or book business class and upgrade with miles (as that always depends on last minute availability). Emirates also just raised their fees on first class awards for their fifth-freedom flights from the US (JFK-MXP, EWR-ATH, MIA-BOG) which isn’t great. Emirates business class seats looked pretty nice as well (as long as you can avoid the soon to be phased out 2-3-2 on the 777).

I hope you enjoyed this trip report. It was a great week trying out all these first class products and lounges and getting a quick visit to Bangkok and Doha.

If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links.