[edotabin]

I am not at all impressed the by 380.

Reading the Lufthansa magazine, it clearly stated that the 380 works best when full. This means it may give an advanatge to the airlines but not to the passengers. In order for this to happen, each inch is carefully measured. What difference does it make what plane I am in if I am stuck in a 17 in wide seat for 8 1/2 hours? The seat pitch was 31 inches. The person in front reclined her seat and I could barely watch the personal TV. It was a horrendous experience.

The one advantage over other aircraft is that it is noticeably quieter. Not significantly but noticeably quiter.

[joeadvisory]

anyone who can say that BA 1st is better or similiar to QF 380 1st is being dillusional. i have flown both (incl new 1st) many times and there is no comparison. QF is spacious – seat is pvt – seat is spacious – toilets are clean and new and bigger. IFE much better etc . the only thing which BA sometimes has going for it is the service but even that is hit and miss. the only real shame on QF is that 1st doesnt have a shower . etc. come on guys wake up

[Danieljs]

Flew EK A380 both from JFK to DXB and DXB to SYD. Both legs in economy, flights were full and felt over crowded. Seats were far too uncomfortable for a 12-14 hour flight, made it impossible to sleep or even get comfortable. The food also was uninviting and bland which just made it so much worse. Did notice however that the plane is noticeably quieter than 777’s in particular however it is still there in the background the whole time. The lighting of the plane was also terrible and made it feel dark and dingy throughout the flight, particularly while eating under a coral-orange glow. This just brought EK down as a whole for me and i would think twice before flying them in the future.

[First.Class.Please]

I`ve flown the Emirates A380 in First, love the private suites and the showers, while they may seem a trifle “gimicky” were excellant in allowing me to shower, shave and have room to dress properly so on arrival in London i was ready to go for the day.

Also flown the Qantas in J, which i found a good seat and excellant IFE. I usually stick to BA where i ca but for LHR-SYD, i need the entertainment or i`ll just go mad on such a long flight.

Also find it very smooth, my wife is a bit of a nervous flyer and hates small planes (a tiny prop plane trying to land in Cape Town with strong winds and fire crew waiting seems to have caused it…). Maybe it`s just been a lack of any turbulence at all, but it`s certainly been smooth when we have travelled on it.

[BA319131]

I’ve been lucky enough to fly all A380 operators bar Korean Air, doing that in October.

SQ Y is nice, especially on the upper deck Y cabin.

QF J is good, service and food great, seat becomes a nice flat bed, happy to use again.

EK J is good, nice seat and cabin, though couples would need centre seats.

AF Y is decent though I’m not a fan of AF, the J seat looks terrible.

LH Y again decent enough, seats fine for Y as was the food & IFE.

Overall I’d prefer to take an A380 over anything else, roll on BA getting theirs from 2013!

[RichardB]

Most of the coments here are aimed at the seats, cabin fittings or catering and none of that is really related to the A380 itself. Airlines could serve the same food, fit the same seats and have the same lighting on any other plane.
I see nothing special about the A380 itself and the thought of arriving in New Delhi or Rio with 400 other passengers to queue through immigration probably makes we want to avoid it if posible

[RichHI1]

Interesting views. I supect that if BA was flying A380 the results would have been more positive. I have a natural bias to Boeing which is partly emotionally linked to 747’s and when I started flying and partly due to Airline Pilot comments.
Richard’s comment on immigration makes me think..; what is ORD or DFW going to be like if 3 A380’s land from FRA, CDG and INC at same time? They have hardened the taxiways and enlarged gates but what about airport pax facilities? This will probably apply to 748 as well.
Wouldn’t it be nice with In Flight WiFi and new IFE if we could do immigration on the IFE during the flight (obviously 80-20 rule and seondary screening could still take place where needed on the ground at both ends.)

[First.Class.Please]

Arriving into LHR didn`t seemto be much different to usual. ok, i was first off, but luggage was still out quick.

Why immigration cant be sorted by data on the passport chip…. i`m happy to share all my info if i can run through an airport quickly.

I would say like the IRIS machines in UK, but i hardly ever get to use those as not valid to connect to domestic flight at LHR.

[LuganoPirate]

I flew JNB – FRA on LH’s 380 in July. I loved it. I was in C and have to admit with all that space they could surely have wider, fully flat, seats which are the same angled ones as on the 340 & 747’s. It was my first 380 flight and the experience was great.

Have to be honest though. Just flew Qatar’s 777 and what a plane that is! Great, flat seats etc. Leaves LH business standing by a mile.

[RichHI1]

Seems that the showers on some airlines are popular and there is a feeling that the a380 space should be used to make Premium cabins more spacious and those carriers who do receive praise. When it comes to the coach cabin, should they provide more space to make long haul less arduous or should they ram in more seats to bring the fares down?
My favourite so far is installing a McDonalds to outsource catering in coach and keep the kids quiet.

[LuganoPirate]

Funnily enough Rich, that’s exactly what my kids said. They think to remove the bar on the 380 and put in a McD instead!

[DanDare1975]

I think it is mostly about the food, the seat, the service and the IFE rather than the plane itself. All of the innovations in these areas can be retrofitted into older aircraft as many airlines have proved. Sure the A380 is a bit quieter but I’m not sure it has ever really made that much difference to me. It is a major engineering achievement for sure, but whether you really feel the difference between the A380 and other long haul aircraft as an individual passenger is questionable for me.

I have flown in business class on QF, EK and SQ and my preference from the three of them was QF.

On the SQ flights I once flew the return leg on an SQ 777 and got a very similar experience to the outward leg on the A380 thanks to the fact that the new SQ business class seat and the new IFE had been retro-fitted, which I think proves my earlier point.

EK loses a lot of marks in business class in my opinion for having very inconsistent service, inconsistent food, inconsistent seats on connecting flights from DXB and a really rubbish lounge at DXB. Their main redeeming feature is the IFE which is usually excellent, but it’s not enough to make up for the other issues. I avoid EK wherever possible now.

SQ is very good but if I had to ‘nit-pick’ my main complaint is that although the seat is good for sleeping in, it’s not very comfortable for sitting up to eat or lounge in while watching the IFE. I also find SQ’s service a little robotic and the choice on the IFE a bit limited considering the technology they have allows a lot more, but these things are relatively minor for me, the overall experience is very good.

QF are overall the best, good seat, good IFE, reasonable service, good food most of the time. My main complaints about them are that the cabin service can make it feel there’s too much going on all the time to allow you to rest. This I suppose is due to the size of the business class cabin on the A380 upper deck, having said that SQ’s cabin is just the same size but it didn’t feel so intrusive.

Having said all of the above, my preference from LHR to SIN is still BA. I just prefer BA’s Club World seat, it’s the most intuitive and overall most comfortable design out there in my opinion, and I prefer their food and their service as well, especially if I can get in the cosy cabin upstairs on the 747. Looking forward to when BA get the A380.

[LuganoPirate]

Just received an email from Qatar that they are delaying delivery of their 380’s until the wing crack situation is sorted.

A wise move methinks!

[Vertrek]

DanDare,

I have to disagree with you! A380 is a much much much much much much much……. quieter plane than B747 or B777!

Flying from LHR to SIN, BA has entered my blacklist, with AF, LH, QF and SQ offering a much modern aircraft and superior products, I see no point of flying expensive BA to SIN.

And also, I have to say SQ A380 J is much superior to QF in term of…. well… everything! The food were great and the genuine attention from the crews (so far only SQ and KL have this factor!), not to mention the real snacks between the meal! (Damn! I miss flying SQ).

So, I have to say A380 is the future, I don’t usually say this, so, sorry in advance but if you think A380’s noise is no different to B747 or B777, you simply have never flown A380 before.

Safe travel.

[RichHI1]

Hmm. Not sure, just seen this on Reuters about Qatar deferring orders for A380 until cracks issue resolved.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/uk-qatarairways-airbus-idUSLNE83T01520120430

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