The Battle for London: Which Middle East Carrier's A380 Is Best in Economy?
Following the success of TPG UK's four-class review of the same British Airways flight, the team set out on another mission to do another comparative review that would be useful for flyers. Since so many Brits (and Americans) fly the three major Middle East carriers (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways) and their ideal geographical positioning to access Asia, India, Australia, Africa and more from Europe and North America, we figured it'd be logical to review each of the airlines on a flight from their respective hubs -- Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha -- to London. And the fact that they all operate the superjumbo Airbus A380 on these routes, it made the competition all the more appealing.
Since a lot of the team was already in the Middle East after their BA flight to Abu Dhabi (AUH), it was easy to fan out around the region to catch different airlines home. Since all the flights were in economy and on the same aircraft with the same 3-4-3 configuration, the stakes weren't as high when deciding who would fly each airline. We settled on the following:
- Emirates A380 economy DXB-LHR: Jean Arnas, Head of Video
- Etihad A380 economy AUH-LHR: Nicky Kelvin, Director of Content
- Qatar A380 economy DOH-LHR: Daniel Ross, Content Producer
Which Middle East giant should get your business? Well, the short answer is that they're all pretty good -- even in coach. Check out the video below, though, to see which one edges out the competition.