Work and family airline employee Non rev travel I have been lucky enough to fly most everything from Comet 4 and 'coalburning' 707/DC8s and improvment s in Cabin environments are sometimes diffuclut to notuice. Those early jets were pretty noisy but the generous seat pitch meant they were pretty comfortable. VC 10 was best of that era because it was quiet. Of the early widebodies the Tristar was nicest (unless it was charter config ) and the 744 was good too . But to get to the point the 380 wins hands down for quiet spacious cabin and a smooth ride . To be fair the A340 was quite nice because the small engines didnt intrude. Not a T7 fan because i dont like its sort of strange wallowing along in the cruise and engines that seemed to continually 'hunt ' up and down with what appeared to be endless minor thrust changes which those monstrous fans amplify. In fairness its a great aircraft in terms of safety and performance .
Wasnt impressed witht he 787 , BAs stingy cramped busines sclass might have affected that assessment , prefer the 330-300 .
Sadly however , and these is bit of a common thread here, really nic pax experience aircraft dont do so well economically VC10, Tristar, 380.
Shorthaul , A321 is a nice ride although the NEO makes some odd noises (though seems to have done away with the famous dog in the hold sound). MD80s if in SAS business class config through the 90s , lots and lots of trips and all very comfortable and quiet . On the other hand if it was down the back in a US version not nice at all.
A subjective thing I know but to my mind the 380 is in a different league and I think many nervous flyers would be happy . As has been said the gust alleviation and sheer mass help with turbulence . Top deck is incredibly quiet in the cruise and no roring engines on take off or reverse . I really hope BA and EK keep a decent number in service . Perhaps they will survive just because of passenger preference rather like the VC10 ,although very uneconomic compared to the fan engined 707s/DC8s, it made up for it with higher load factors from pax who appreciated the superior comfort