Rumorpile: Volkswagen to Pay Owners $1,000 to $7,000 to Settle Claims

Argh.  This is a question I almost want to avoid. The A380 is incredible.  Yes, I had a roundtrip through AA on British.  They have a small economy section at the back, upstairs.  Then I flew a one way from Italy to New York-JFK on an Emirates "fifth freedom" flight segment.  They have economy taking the entire main level, with none upstairs. Economy seats are a little wider on the A380 ... definitely on Emirates, at least.  It was an outstanding flight because of that.  On British, I paid for an economy seat upstairs and the curvature of the exterior translates into windows that are too sloped and with an odd and bigger void in between the cabin and the exterior.  I will be sitting downstairs if there is a future flight on one. The 747-8 isn't as comfortable in economy because the seats are traditional economy width.  I feel more comfortable in one because I know it.  It's also much more photogenic all the way around.  You feel good when it pulls up to the gate and you see that beautiful and proportioned machine through the big glass windows. The humidification is good on both planes. It's really sad that no more passenger quadjets are being produced.  It's easier to get onto an A380 if Europe bound (British, Lufthansa, Emirates, and others via connections, with Air France holding back).  For a 747-8, Lufthansa is the only choice and I am grateful to them for that.

My car has a supposed 525 mile highway crusing range on a full tank (19.5 gallons).   I haven't fully tested that since I tend to fill up at 1/2 tank when on road trips..but I have recorded averages of 29.5 and 30 mpg on road trips, which is pretty good for a comfortable 4200lb AWD sedan..

@trinacriabob in your flying in recent years, have you had a trip on an A380?    If so, how does it compare to the larger Boeings? 

Right.  It's not the aircraft themselves, but the haste and sloppiness.  ("Haste makes waste.")  This 777 X is ambitious and the folding wingtips are novel.  They will be very late with delivering this plane.  I now like some Boeing and some Airbus.  It's a mix.  In the recent past, I took a ride on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and I definitely like it more than the Airbus 350 (even though the Airbus 350 has that photogenic curved winglets).  The cabin fatigue from flying is much reduced on the Dreamliner. Yesterday, I was on two domestic Boeing 737 Max 8 segments back to back on Southwest.  I like its newer features - ambient lighting, larger bins, a little quieter.  So, if it's working, it's a very nice rendition of the 737.  It's too bad that their newest version of this storied workhorse had to be tainted.  I get on and sigh.  If it keeps a clean track record going forward, people may be less weirded out as the statistics may become better. It is.  However, I'm not a fan of the leg design, which is also now popular on sofas.  The biggest turnoff for me in sofas - when I bought a sleeper for another room with the last stimulus money - was the amount of product that had nailheads all over the place.