October brings an addition of 14 new first class reviews. The expanded October first class reviews include an all new airline – Garuda – as well as expanded reviews for Korean Air and Qantas. This brings our total first class reviews to 138. Here’s a summary of what’s changed and what’s new with each airline in the October expanded first class summary.
As a reminder, Premium Travel Insider aggregates reviews from around the web and scores them on a 1-3 scale. A 3 indicates that a given category exceeded reviewer expectations, a 2 indicates it met expectations, and a 1 failed to meet expectations. We evaluate a variety of categories, the most important of which we call the “Big 5” that are most important to a premium travel experience: seat, food, drink, service, and in flight entertainment. You can learn more about our methodology here.
Garuda Indonesia
Garuda Indonesia is a very highly rated carrier out of Indonesia that does not fly to the US. Its excellent ratings and lack of US connection makes it a sought-after review for the various bloggers out there. We’ve added five reviews from three sites – a small sample size.
The carrier scores a perfect 3.00/3.00 overall, and a very strong Big 5 rating of 2.87/3.00. Every Big 5 category but IFE ranking – which scored 2.33/3.00 – was rated a perfect 3.00/3.00. Other categories were less impressive, around the 2.00/3.00 score. Learn more here.
Korean Air First
We expanded our Korean Air first class reviews from five to 10, and went from two to six contributing sites. The overall score stayed steady at 2.30/3.00, but the Big 5 went down slightly from 2.48/3.00 to 2.40/3.00. The seat score increased from 2.00/3.00 to 2.33/3.00, as the additional reviews included several of the airliner’s Kosmo Suites 2.0 product.
Other Big 5 scores declined slightly. IFE declined from 2.00/3.00 to 1.89/3.00, Food declined from 2.60/3.00 to 2.40/3.00, drink program from 3.00/3.00 to 2.89/3.00, and service from 2.80/3.00 to 2.50/3.00. Despite these decreases, Korean Air first class remains a great option to consider. Learn more here.
Qantas First
Our Qantas first class reviews expanded from five to nine, and increased from three to six contributing sites. The overall score decreased slightly from 2.50/3.00 to 2.44/3.00, although the Big 5 increased from 2.56/3.00 to 2.62/3.00. One item to note is the overall level of detail for reviews was a bit low – 1.89/3.00.
For specific statistics, seating increased from 2.60/3.00 to 2.75/3.00 and service increased 2.60/3.00 to 2.71/3.00. Despite the increase in seating, many reviewers noted the seats were showing their age and that an upcoming cabin refresh will be well worth it. IFE declined from 2.50/3.00 to 2.33/3.00, as did the drink program from 2.57/3.00 to 2.50/3.00. One notable concern is many reviewers indicated WiFi was not available. Overall, Qantas remains right on the bubble of excellent and is worth considering. Learn more here.
Look Before You Book
Points and dollars are hard to come by for most of us, so make sure you’re getting the best possible travel experience. Our October expanded first class reviews are part of our mission to help you find the best premium flights. See what the experts have to say for both Business and First class before making any decisions. It might be the difference between the flight of a lifetime or a disappointment.