Apart from the plumes, BLM excels in Ifrit, I guess. Ranged party makes things easier for Ifrit so I won't discuss about meelees here .

Although SMN did more damage overall, but the only crucial parts are the nail phases and BLM did well there I guess.
SMN can leave dots at nails, but careless attacks can make the stacks go high due to later nails are destroyed too fast, so I guess BLM and BRD are easier and safer to play there.

Just my viewpoint as BLM, though. You can say I'm biased