Over the years, I have had a chance to fly International First and Business Class with several airlines. I very much look forward to flying in a premium cabin and I'm able to talk about the subject at length. Here's a quick comparison of airlines I've flown fairly recently -- I often describe the in-flight amenities in detail in my travel essays.  

• If I have an essay, there will be a link to it [Essay].
• Where possible, I link directly to the airline's description of that class of service.

Supersonic Class

Yep, we got to fly on Concorde in 1999!  Details later.

First Class

Cathay Pacific -- Professional, superb service, a great menu and wine list and a super-comfortable seat.  [Essay]

British Airways -- I haven't flown on them since they've added the new fully reclining "bed seat," but I think that I'm going to save up enough miles for the next time I go to Australia and combine this with a trip on Concorde for a "long way around" to Brisbane.

These airlines do not have pictures of their First Class cabins.

• Qantas -- About 80 percent of Cathay's service.  The service is professional and the beer selection is outstanding -- they had every major beer in Australia available (aside from Castlemaine XXXX, strangely enough) and they understood how to keep it cold.  It's one of the few flights that I've taken where it was actually worthwhile to forego the (fine) wines for the quality beer.  Qantas has rolled out an improved First Class and I will report on it after my next trip to Australia.

• American Airlines -- I must retract the ugly things I wrote about American in earlier essays.  We flew AA's First Class twice in 2000, including the new Flagship Suite, and found the service to be quite professional.  The seats were comfortable, and the Flagship Suite seat's ability to swivel over to a desk to be very cool!
• United Airlines -- After flying them to South America, I understand why that Gerard Finneran took a crap on their serving cart last year. Obviously his reaction was completely inappropriate and I think he deserved more than the $40,000 slap on the wrist he received, but I found United's service to be inattentive and the seat was inferior and I'll show my displeasure by taking another airline if I can.

Business Class

Cathay Pacific -- A very good business class seat and service. I particularly enjoyed their Chinese noodles and sandwiches available any time during the trip.

Canadian Airlines Club Empress -- An excellent seat, marred only by mediocre entertainment, no priority baggage handling, and U.S. - Style service.  Shame they've been assimilated by Air Canada.

British Airways Club World -- Comfortable, British service.  [Essay]

Singapore Airlines Raffles Class -- It was okay, but it wasn't anywhere near what I had expected.  The service was certainly as attentive as I had expected, but really the seat was quite average.

Old Pan Am -- Clipper Class service was very good. Too bad they aren't around any more.   [Essay]

These airlines do not have pictures of their Business Class Cabins.

• American Airlines -- The sheepskin seats on the old seats are very comfortable.  Unfortunately they've been replaced by a high-tech seat that ought to be comfortable, but because of mechanical problems never seems to "fit" quite right.
• United Airlines Connoisseur Class -- Basically the same quality of service as American's but the seats aren't as comfortable.
• Delta Air Lines -- They just don't get it. On the Pacific run that I did, they ran out of food and basically treated me like I was in coach. I wouldn't recommend it.