With my return to Europe and the end of my 2026 trip to Australia, I thought it might be interesting to do a little retrospective to compare how the airlines performed. To make this a fair comparison, or as fair as possible, I suggest focussing only on the long-haul segments. As a reminder, you can see the routing I took in the next section.

Routing

> ZRH LH Y FRA A319

> FRA AF C CDG E195

> CDG AF C SIN B77W

> SIN SQ C CNS A359

> CNS ZL Y ISA SF34

> ISA QF Y TSV DH8D

> TSV QF Y CNS DH8D

> CNS QF C DRW E190

> DRW QF C SYD B738

> SYD KE C ICN B781

> ICN KL C AMS B789

> AMS KL C FRA E175

> FRA EN Y BSL E190

Ranking

In attempting to rank the four airlines’ performances on this trip, I have defined seven criteria which generally align with the section titles of each post. For each criterion each airline is ranked on a scale from one to four, whereby the higher number indicates a better ranking in comparison to the other airlines.

Airport Experience

The check-in process is ignored in this criterion, mainly because I used online or app check-in for each airline and there is, frankly, hardly any distinction to be made between the airlines. Instead, this category focusses on the airport experience in terms of the ease of getting around the airport and the experience at the security checkpoint. KLM and Korean Air score highest in this criterion because the security checkpoints at Sydney and Incheon are equipped with 3D scanners, which means that nothing needs to be removed from the luggage. Only belts had to be taken off and pockets emptied. Air France scores the lowest here, simply because the security checkpoint was one huge mess. Of course, this is only partly the airline’s fault. Nonetheless, having just the two checkpoints open was annoying.

AF	KL	KE	SQ
1	4	3	2

Airline Lounge

Admittedly, this criterion is rather wide in that it covers several aspects of the lounge experience – the availability of seating, the availability and quality of the food, the general tidiness and cleanliness of the lounge, the views from the lounge, and the general impression. In this criterion Air France is clearly at the bottom end of the list. As I mentioned in the post, the lounge was a huge, crowded mess. There was hardly any place to sit and the buffet was just sad. There were no more hot options left, and the cold options had either run out, or were already in the process of being cleared before closing the lounge. KLM unfairly scores highest in this category, because it is in fact a Korean Air lounge I used during my layover in Seoul. But it was a nice and spacious lounge and the food options were impressive, even if the views from the lounge weren’t.

AF	KL	KE	SQ
1	4	3	2

Boarding

Th Boarding criterion considers the efficiency of the boarding process and the extent to which the gate staff respect the boarding zones as they are indicated on passengers’ boarding passes. In this criterion, Singapore Airlines scores the highest. This was just perfect. There was a dedicated line for Business Class passengers, who could just walk on at their own convenience. Air France scores lowest because of how long they will have you wait in the queue before they finally let passengers aboard. With Korean Air, my impression was that the boarding process seemed overly complicated, but it did get the job done.

AF	KL	KE	SQ
1	2	3	4

Cabin & Seat

This criterion considers the attractiveness of the cabin, the general level of comfort of the seat, the amount of available space and the level of privacy offered by the seat. Air France clearly scores the highest in this criterion. The bulkhead seat on the Boeing B 777-300ER offers substantially more space than any of the other seats I experienced on this trip. And I have to admit that I have, over time, come to appreciate the privacy doors quite a bit. The KLM seat ranks lowest in this criterion, simply because there were too many things that were inoperable (like the IFE on the A seats) or in very bad operational condition (the door to the storage compartment, and my seat in general) in the cabin.

AF	KL	KE	SQ
4	1	2	3

Cabin Crew & Service

This is another fairly broad criterion that considers the friendliness and interactional skills of the crew, their attention to detail, and the overall service delivery. Singapore Airlines scores highest again in this criterion, despite the fact that I really did not like having the meal served right in the middle of the flight. The crew on this flight were simply outstanding – engaging, charming, and actually quite funny. Air France scores the lowest, but I’m not fully sure why. Either the crew on my flight was just not feeling it, or they were too concerned with getting the service over and done with as soon as possible so passengers could get some rest. My general impression was that the Air France crew was a bit nondescript, which is quite unusual.

AF	KL	KE	SQ
1	3	2	4

Dining

The criterion for dining looks at the quality of the meals, and the flavours and taste of the food. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given my love of Indian food, Singapore Airlines ranked highest in this criterion, despite the somewhat questionable quality of the meat that was served for the satay during the first service. There was a lot of food and it was nicely seasoned. With Air France and KLM I only had the breakfast, so the second service. KLM achieved the second highest score before Air France for the simple reason that I thought the food tasted better on KLM and I’m not a fan of the flan type dish Air France served for breakfast. The amount of food on Air France was better than KLM, though. Korean Air gets the lowest score because their service concept is confusing to westerners, for example the fact that you won’t get a soup or a roll of bread with the first course if you’re ordered the Korean main. The issue with the soup I can appreciate, because the Korean option comes with its own soup, but the no bread policy?

AF	KL	KE	SQ
2	3	1	4

General Impression

Over all, my general impression was that Singapore Airlines showed the most consistent performance throughout its service delivery. The crew and the cabin looked neat, and the crew’s attention to detail was just something else! I can’t really say I like the style of the Singapore Airlines lounges – they look like the lobby of slightly dated hotel – but that is just a matter personal taste. Air France ranks in third position for the overall impression for similar reasons as Singapore Airlines. KLM scored at the bottom of the list because with all the things that went wrong on my flight with them, the overall impression you’re left with is one of an airline seriously focussed on cutting costs.

AF	KL	KE	SQ
3	1	2	4

Overall Score

As you can see in the table, Singapore Airlines achieved the highest cumulative score with 22 points. Frankly, I’m a bit surprised myself that Air France ended up ranked last, with only twelve points – clearly, the situation on the ground weighed them down. Korean Air’s score sits more or less in the middle between Air France and Singapore Airlines, which seems pretty accurate to me. There wasn’t anything obviously wrong with my Korean Air experience, but it seemed a bit…?

Criterion	AF	KL	KE	SQ
Airport Experience	1	4	3	2
Airline Lounge	1	4	3	2
Boarding	1	2	3	4
Cabin & Seat	4	1	2	2
Cabin Crew & Service	1	3	2	4
Dining	2	3	1	4
General Impression	3	1	2	4
Total Score	12	18	16	22

Conclusion

The purpose of this ranking is not to distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ airlines, but to rank the four long-haul flights I took in terms of the one I enjoyed the most, and the one I enjoyed the least. Perhaps if I were to do this for every flight I take, over time I might end up with a representative sample, although I’d also need multiple raters. In any case, if anyone reading this has had the pleasure of flying with these four formidable airlines, and has the time and inclination to comment, I’d be interested to hear how you would rank them.