Air Canada or emirates

Hi everyone! Hope it’s okay to post this here.

We’re travelling from the East Coast of North America to Kuala Lumpur with our three kids, ages 11, 8 and 6, and we’re stuck between two options.

Option 1 is Air Canada — about 14 hours to Tokyo, then another 7 hours to Kuala Lumpur.

Option 2 is Emirates — about 12 hours to Dubai, then another 7 hours to Kuala Lumpur.

Emirates is about $500 more per person. We’ve flown with both airlines quite a few times, and I personally much prefer Emirates. I love their service, food and overall experience. I’m honestly a bit nervous about doing such a long flight with Air Canada and three kids. I’m just not a huge fan of their service or food.

The one thing really tempting me about Air Canada is the return flight. We’d have an 11-hour layover in Tokyo, which would be amazing because we could leave the airport and see the city.

If this were a shorter flight, I’d probably just take Air Canada and save the money. But since this is our first time doing such a long-haul trip with the kids, I’m leaning toward paying the extra for Emirates.

For those who have flown both, is Emirates worth the extra $500 per person for a long-haul flight? Or would you save the money and go with Air Canada, especially with the Tokyo layover?

Would love to hear what you guys would do.