Over the past four years, I've been fortunate enough to
fly on some of the world's best carriers in international first class. If you're wondering how I've been able to do that,
start here.
In fact, I've flown more than two dozen segments on nine carriers with another few dozen flights in international business class. People often ask about my favorite carriers, flights, amenities, seats, etc...it's not the easiest question to answer since crews matter and vary from flight to flight.
Amenities (pajamas, amenity kits) are rotated. Catering can be vastly different from one flight to another especially when comparing flights from a home base (i.e Singapore Airlines out of Singapore) vs. an outstation (i.e.
Singapore Airlines from Frankfurt). Don't forget aircraft - while the seat on
Emirates' A380 and 777 is very similar, the experience is vastly different given the shower and onboard bar on the A380.
All that said, here are my personal rankings of the top 5 international first class products (in order):
1) Etihad Airways A380 First Class Apartment
Hands down, Etihad offers the best first class product in the sky. The amount of personal space is just ridiculous given that Etihad has a single aisle on their A380 vs. the double aisle that every other airline uses.
Etihad has amazing amenity kits stocked with Le Labo products and very comfortable pajamas. The entertainment system is top notch and they offer live TV and wifi.