You're close! You just need to enclose the link's title in quotation marks.
Try this:
<ul>
{% for link in linklists.main-menu.links %}
{% if link.title != 'featured' %}
<li class="{% if forloop.first %}first{% elsif forloop.last %}last{%endif%}">
...
</li>
{% endif %}
{% endfor %}
</ul>