Singapore Airlines v Qatar Airways BC

UnionGirl

Always planned to fly the day before, especially since I'm considering between February/March and October/November for New Zealand.

Thanks everyone.

SW17

They are both very good airlines, to be honest the choice really comes down to small differences in various areas.

• Schedule / Flight Length: SQ will have a longer first sector outbound and a shorter second sector. The second sector on QR is very long, almost 16 hours DOH-AKL. The sectors on SQ are a bit more even in length. You need to consider when you like to sleep, and layover time.
  
• Aircraft: as you've noted, you will struggle to avoid the 777 on one sector, though that isn't such a big deal on these routes. For QR, only the 777-200LR can do a flight that long. I don't think there's much risk of equipment swap, except maybe the CPH-DOH sectors with QR.
  
• Cabin: SQ interior and seats pretty consistent across A380 and 777-300. All seats have aisle access in 1-2-1 configuration. I'm not a huge fan of their seats (I find them a bit too wide at one end and narrow at the feet hen in bed mode, and it's a bit fiddly to convert to a bed), but a lot of people totally love them, it's personal preference. QR has 2-2-2 configuration on the 777, 1-2-1 reverse herringbone on the 787, A350 and A380. This means the window seats on the 777 don't have aisle access (until they are converted to Q suites, which will take a while), but they are very comfy seats, especially as a bed. All on both airlines are flat beds. The QR 777 has slightly less privacy, the other aircraft are all similar on this point.
  
• Food/drink: both very good. QR probably has a slight edge since they offer dine on demand in business class, but the food quality is on a par (of course more Asian food on SQ).
  
• Service: both excellent in the air. Maybe SQ slightly better on the ground when things go wrong.
  
• Lounges: Can't speak for AKL, but personally I'd rate the QR lounges above SQ, especially the Al Mourjan in DOH. It's personal choice again though, nothing wrong with SQ lounges.
  
• Other: as mentioned above, if you are a member of the BA Exec Club, this return flight on QR would give you enough points to reach Silver status (you need 4 qualifying paid flights on BA or IB codes as well). You'd make status progress on Star Alliance with SQ, but it's harder to reach good status with Star Alliance.

I haven't flown to AKL, but I've done multiple long haul business class flights on both airlines, including to Australia, and I've flown all the aircraft types you're likely to encounter with them (QR's A350, A380, B777/777LR, B787, and SQ A380 and B777-300).

That said, you can see that so much of the above is personal preference with two airlines that are pretty close in quality, so it's up to you. Good luck, I don't think you'll be disappointed whatever you choose.