I remember Bob Crandall of American Airlines complaining bitterly about the real performance of his MD-11's. They didn't match the sales talk.
Although I have always enjoyed being a passenger in one.
Once I was chatting to an Airbus rep in 1994. He said that Virgin's old B747-100 used 85 tonnes of fuel Gatwick to Newark. Virgin's new A340-300 used 35 tonnes on the same route. Or so he said.
The Boeing B787 had to be beefed-up a bit when there were problems in the wing box area. Adding weight. Apparently it is more expensive to make carbon fibre than use alluminium?
If I were an airline chief and I got a good deal on some A330-200HGW's. I wonder if my competitor with his new Boeing B787s would be smiling?