Take it from a professional long-hauler: Air New Zealand is the only shining star on the airline horizon at the moment. They beat Emirates, Virgin, Lufthansa, everyone hands down. Now, I've not tried Asiana, Qatar, Etihad or Singapore recently, so there could contenders there. They make me smile every time I fly them and that's not easy to achieve from a grumpy fart like myself.
Turkish has shaped up greatly and is now better than Emirates, and their LAX-IST leg is nicely run. Virgin has slipped badly into footballers wife/Essex territory and don't belong in the top anymore. They're just like a slightly better BA these days.