At last, I get to fly on Airbus’s much-over-hyped A380 double-decker routesmasher.

This is an aircraft I’ve been as shy of as horses are of snakes. It’s that fly-by-wire thing I like the least, not to mention a few episodes that made the news recently such as when an engine on a Qantas A380 self-destructed in flight.

So, when I saw it waiting at my gate in Frankfurt, I was not much amused.

Well, sacred cows make good eating, as the saying goes. The Six-Foot Flyer is happy to report that not only does the A380 still have That New Plane Smell, but the legroom in Coach-Economy-Steerage is – in this particular case – significantly improved over any other Airbus (or Boeing) he has yet travelled in.

There is decent room under the seat too so you can stretch out your pins without fouling the crap that lurks beneath other airline seats, and rest your feet on a footbar. Nice. Of course, that could all change if certain airlines feel the pinch again and start stuffing 800 people into their doubledeckers.

For now, though, 6FF reckons the A380 is a pretty decent ride.

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