I normally turn left on longhauls (or do I now say "go upstairs" for 380s?) and found myself in emirates economy for a BNE-AKL leg. Its definitely a good seat pitch, and the load/unload delays for a dugong seem remarkably fast.
I would say the aisle width for the trolley-dollies (sorry) is perhaps a bit tight, I got nudged a few more times than I expected but that is probably my lard-arse and not their fault, or the aisle width per se.
Apart from better Air and seatpitch, the one thing I have noticed in 380s is the engine noise is at a different pitch. dB wise I don't carry a personal, internationally calibrated 'is it louder than a printer or not' meter. But it seems to me to be a few tones sweeter than a Jumbo, and certainly less noticeable. The vibration is different too.
I think AirBus has a winner. I don't think emirates can make them profitable alone, but the craft is good and I'm happy to board one. I am looking forward to my first 350 flight, and 787 likewise. I still fly the Qantas 747s and I dont particularly miss or dislike them, but the product has definitely moved on since the days of disco balls and upstairs piano bars.
I totally agree SLF promo is mostly about fitout issues and I think both the Qantas 'thunderbirds are go' boothettes for pax, and the Emirates bar down the back are a bit of a joke. They'll go when they stop having
PR value