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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
The Qatar Airways' QSuite blew me away – wow, wow, wow. Bedding, amenities, and service were spectacular, and catering was good. I was impressed by the amount of personal space provided, and would give six stars if I could. |
5.0
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Boarding was scheduled for 12:30 AM ahead of our 1:20 AM flight. I’d been monitoring our aircraft until it departed out of Doha – an hour late – so I knew it was going to feature QSuites ahead of time. My biggest gripe with booking the QSuites configuration is that you’re not guaranteed it, as many flights get swapped out last minute. Heck, as of writing, this exact same flight has been swapped three times in the past 7 days, which represents a 57% QSuite probability – not too much of a “guarantee”, if you ask me!
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Hong Kong Airport
Anyway, we were on a QSuites flight, fortunately (we didn’t have any equipment swaps in all four segments of our booking, which I largely consider to be a blessing). Boarding was called shortly after it was scheduled, at around 12:35 AM; I was the first one in the Qatar Airways QSuite.
This was going to be a fun Friday night (or Saturday morning)!
Qatar Airways Flight QR815
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Origin: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 65 Dep: 01:20 (01:30)
Destination: Doha (DOH) Gate: Bus Gate Arr: 04:45 (05:25)
Duration: 8 h 25 min (8 h 50 min)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER Reg: A7-BEL
Seat: 5A (Business Class)
Qatar Airways’ 777 QSuite Cabin and Seat
I stepped into Qatar Airways’ QSuite cabin. This was a premium-heavy Qatar Airways 777, which meant it had two separate business class cabins (at the expense of some economy seats); it had 24 business class seats in a slightly larger forward cabin, and 18 business class seats in a slightly smaller rear cabin.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Forward Cabin
Since I was seated in the forward cabin, I had a quick peek at the rear cabin. I generally find smaller rear cabins on planes to be a little cramped, since they’re sandwiched between a galley and economy class, and there’s more foot traffic during boarding; for that reason, I prefer booking the forward cabin.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Rear Cabin
I had a look at the economy class cabin as well. Immediately behind the rear business class cabin were 62 economy seats, laid out in a 3-4-3 configuration (the first few rows are laid out in a 3-3-3 configuration). They certainly didn’t look as comfortable as the Cathay Pacific 777 seats I flew last month, though looks can be deceiving, and I’ve heard good things about these seats.
Qatar Airways uses the Recaro CL3710 seat in economy, which I’ve checked out in Hong Kong Airlines economy class – amusingly their “new” Super Economy was also a modified version of an existing Hong Kong Airlines seat. Cathay Pacific uses a modified version of these seats, where they added better padding and seatback storage – the latter of which the Qatar Airways seats completely lack.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Economy Class
Anyway, back to the QSuite, where a male crewmember escorted me to my seat. I didn’t get his name, but I could immediately tell this would be an amazing flight. He shared my excitement over flying QSuite for the first time, and insisted that if there was anything I needed, I should let one of them know.
If you’ve flown a Solstys-style staggered configuration business class seat (or read my reviews of Hong Kong Airlines or Thai business class), the QSuite is a heavily (read: heavily) modified version of that; if you’ve flown the Etihad Business Studio on the A380 or 787, this is essentially the same seat with the addition of a door.
The thing in common with all these configurations is that some of the window seats are closer to the window, whereas others are closer to the aisle. In order to maximise space, Qatar Airways alternated the seat orientations, so that half of the seats face backwards; these happen to be the “true” window seats. Meanwhile, some seats are closer to each other in the middle, whereas others are further apart; the “honeymoon” seats face backwards in this configuration (more on that in a bit).
I’d selected myself seat 5A, which was a rearward-facing “true” window seat.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Seat Signage
I’ve had the privilege to fly many business class seats before, and I’m grateful for that. I can tell apart a really good business class seat from a mediocre one, based on the storage options, padding, direct aisle access, etc.. Prior to this flight I named Cathay Pacific’s A350 reverse herringbone seat the best business class seat that I’ve flown, due to the perfect balance they struck between privacy, comfort, spaciousness, and storage.
The QSuite beats Cathay’s seat by a huge margin, and this is easily the best business class seat I’ve flown. Being right next to the window, I was surprised at how spacious the seat was, especially given the seat count hasn’t been reduced at all from their older configuration. Beyond that, though, I was blown away by how well-appointed the seat was (though I’ve read Gilbert Ott’s review of ANA’s new suite business class, and it sure looks like it would give the QSuite a run for its money).
The suite itself features a surprisingly well-padded seat. I didn’t bring a tape measure, though the seat itself was probably around 20″ wide – not as wide as a typical reverse herringbone seat, though we’re not accounting for the shoulder space for days that this seat affords.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Seat 5A
The seat behind me, 6B, was empty during this flight, so I had the chance to briefly check it out. First of all, 6B is missing a window, so it’s a seat to be avoided; though this seat is laid out identically to any B, D, G or J seat. The seat shared all the well laid-out features of the A and K seats, though I will say that it feels a little more “hemmed in” in bed mode. It’s not uncomfortable by any means, but the suite door “curves” into the seat slightly near the top – it feels a little more like sleeping in an alcove and less like sleeping in a hotel room. I tried a similarly set-up seat when flying home in a Quad suite (more on that later in this trip report), so will elaborate more on that.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Seat 6B
The E and F seats are “honeymoon” seats, so they’re right next to each other. Honeymoon seats in “traditional” staggered configurations are best avoided, as you feel like you’re seated in economy; due to the abundance of shoulder space here, this wasn’t the case. The partition (pictured below) can be raised fully upward or downward (though don’t play with it too much if you’re seated there on your own – the crew need to use a key to raise the partition between seats). The TV screens for these seats slide outwards to create a “quad suite” with the D and G seats across, though that also requires the use of a key.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Seats 5E and 5F
Here’s a picture of how the quad suite looks like when the TV screens are open (more on that during the report of my return flight – and sorry my mom doesn’t like it when her pictures are online)!
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Quad Suite
It’s worth noting that the Quad Suite cannot be selected those travelling on PNRs with only one person in the booking, unless you call the Qatar Airways office. However, once a group of two or three book seats in a quad suite, the suite is “broken”, and the rest of the seats in the suite are opened up to solo travellers.
Back at my window seat in 5A, to my left was a console where I found my seat controls, a huge platform for personal items, a storage nook below (which fit a charging phone), my seat controls, a power port, a USB port, an HDMI port and contactless payment (it’d work for Apple Pay if I ever desired to get myself a model Qatar Airways airplane on this flight).
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Side Control Panel
The seat controls were intuitive – not only could you adjust the degree of recline at your seat, though you could also move the seat back and forth (which would be very useful in the quad suite), adjust the lumbar support, and there were also four preset functions. There was also a button where you could illuminate the storage compartment below the platform (if anything, I personally wouldn’t use the “sun” logo for the storage platform light, as I often tried to use that button to turn the reading light on or off), as well as a Do Not Disturb button.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Seat Controls
It’s worth noting that this entire console is parked near the TV, due to the forwards-backwards configuration – as opposed to right beside you, which would be true of a traditional staggered seat. The benefit of this was that your personal items were placed further away from you, though still within reach; there was no way to accidentally adjust your seat, since the seat controls were in front of you, as opposed to right beside you.
Directly located to my left was a reading light. The reading light also featured a “backlight” function, where a separate light on the back of the lamp lit up, creating a mellow glow; I found this very useful during meal services, and also when I was taking photos in a dark cabin.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Reading Light
Also to my left was a further storage compartment that doubled as an armrest. It took me a while to find the “open” button (it’s embedded into the bottom corner of the leather compartment lid), though once I found it I was able to find a set of headphones and a bottle of water. The entire compartment slid upwards to create an armrest if you so pleased, though I personally though it could’ve gone a little higher.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Side Armrest
Since the armrest doesn’t eat into your shoulder space, there’s really nothing directly next to you at shoulder level. The smart thing about the forwards-backwards configuration is that the staggering is done mostly at the footwells, where width matters a little less; every seat shares a back wall with the seat behind it, though it doesn’t jut out into your space much, creating ample shoulder space that gives you a sense of spaciousness. It’s brilliant but hard to explain in words, so here’s a diagram:
(For the non-engineers out there, TL;DR these seats are configured with a stroke of genius to provide extra shoulder space.)
The tray table slides out from under the TV screen in front, and it’s large and incredibly sturdy. You can easily leave your seat when the tray table is deployed, but only in A, E, F and K seats (you can’t do so in the aisle-side seats, unfortunately).
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Tray Table
I forgot to take a picture of the ottoman, though did so on my flight from Doha to Amsterdam. The footwell provides ample space (and at no point did my knees bang against the tray table, since there’s a lot of space vertically), and the ottoman was close enough to the seat that I didn’t mourn about the lack of a legrest.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Legrest
The seat was also complete with air nozzles (not one, but two!), but I thought the cabin was kept relatively cool inflight. They’d sure prove useful in the powerful Doha heat, though!
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Overhead Air Nozzles
Without luring myself into the “QSuite aphrodisiac effect” (which is what I call the unanimous, non-countered praise that all of the reviews I’ve seen so far have said about the QSuite), I need to stress how far ahead this seat is ahead of the competition. The QSuite was the first fully enclosed business class hard product that went into the market (even though Delta introduced their seat first), and there’s so much attention to detail that went into this product. Not only are the configurations customisable (where you can sit alone, or in a group of 4 in the center of the cabin), but the seat was designed in order to maximise shoulder space, storage is abundant and practically placed, the seat console is well-designed and perfectly placed, etc..
The only person I know who has flown both ANA’s “The Room” business class product and the QSuite is Gilbert Ott from God Save The Points (mentioned above). He actually prefers the ANA cabin, as he finds it more spacious. While the ANA hard product may be superior, that doesn’t discredit the QSuite – what a wonderful, wonderful seat to spend an eight hour flight (and in this case a 15 hour journey, since I was connecting onto another QSuite flight).
Happily seated in my beautiful QSuite!
Alright, now that I’ve showered my compliments, time for a couple of other observations. All of the seats are “flush” across each other in Qatar Airways’ 777 QSuites cabin. This meant that if you were in an A/K seat, you could clearly see the person across you in the E/F seat, as the “opening” of the door is right beside you. This only applies to A/E/F/K seats, since the B/D/G/J seats are flush against the side wall, which acts as an effective privacy partition. It also only applies to the forward cabin on this aircraft – the rear cabin doesn’t have this problem, as the A seats are across the D seats and the K seats are across the G seats.
Due to how the door’s opening is positioned, I would’ve loved if the A/K seats could be set across the D/G seats and the B/J against the E/F seats, so it wasn’t as easy to see the person across you. This is the ultimate first world problem, but a really easy fix (this seems to also be a problem on the A350-900, but not on the A350-1000).
Seeing other passengers in QSuite
Additionally, we were on a plane that was delivered with QSuite. However, on the flight from Doha to Amsterdam, we had a plane that was retrofitted with QSuite (so it used to have the older business class cabin, but they took the seats out and replaced them with QSuite seats), and there seemed to be a bit of a quality control issue both considering the doors and the tray tables. More on that in the report of that flight, though it’s apparent that the planes delivered with QSuite are in better condition (for the geeky, these are planes A7-BEK to A7-BEX – we were on A7-BEL).
Qatar Airways’ 777 Business Class Amenities
Waiting at my seat was a Bric’s amenity kit (they weren’t hard cover like the ones Qatar Airways used in 2017, but I preferred these more). My men’s amenity kit was stocked with face moisturiser, hand cream, lip balm, earplugs, eyeshades and socks, though dental kits were available in the lavatory.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Amenity Kit
Waiting in the storage compartment was a pair of headphones, which were decent quality (not as good as Bose or B&O, but still decent – I believe they were from Phitek).
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Headphones
Two pillows and a blanket were provided. The pillow was very plush and the blanket was really nice as well – it was “furred” on one side and quilt-like on the other. The second pillow was somewhat decorative but not quite as stellar, but bonus points for the inspirational quotes (that more or less serve as the branding for this product)!
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Decorative Pillow
Qatar Airways’ 777 Business Class Pre-Departure Service
During my initial interaction with the male crewmember he asked me if I wanted a drink, and if I wanted a hot or cold towel. Rose champagne and a cold towel for me, please!
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Pre-Departure Beverage
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Towel
The crew eventually came over to my seat and presented me with a pair of small pyjamas. Qatar Airways has upgraded the quality of their pyjamas since the last time I flew them, and I found them to be very comfortable (pardon my sorry state at 2 AM in the morning when the below photo of me was taken, since I got it on my return flight).
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Pyjamas
Takeoff from Hong Kong Airport
Soon enough the door closed. The captain came onto the PA to wish us a good flight, under the care of Qatar Airways’ “award-winning service”. The service manager came over and introduced herself as Warnika, informed me of our 8h 5m flight time, and said that if I needed anything I should let them know. She also asked if I’d flown the QSuite before, to which I said “no, I’m very excited”.
She shortly came back after that with some newspapers, though I passed. The cabin lights were dimmed in preparation for our nighttime takeoff.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Cabin Lights Dimmed
There was a bit of a line for takeoff, so we left the ground at approximately 2:05 AM. While sitting backwards doesn’t feel different during cruising, there’s a noticeable difference during takeoff – though it certainly isn’t unpleasant. The acceleration did feel a little weird (as someone who’s usually to taking off the “right” way), as you were thrown out of your seat as opposed to back into it. However, the climbout didn’t feel as weird.
Takeoff from Hong Kong Airport
Qatar Airways’ 777 QSuite Lavatory
After takeoff I quickly visited the lavatory, which was laid out with wooden finishes, stocked with dental kits and featured Rituals toiletries.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Lavatory
Qatar Airways’ 777 QSuite Door
Once the crew bell rang, their first call of order was to unlock the doors.
The QSuite doors slide so easily, and close all the way without much of a gap (I forgot to take a photo of the door on this flight, so you’ll be seeing these photos again, as I took them on my flight from Doha to Amsterdam):
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Door from Inside
Here’s what the door looks like from the outside:
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Door from Outside
While I did have issues with the door on my flight from Doha to Amsterdam, I had no issues with the door on this flight – it opened smoothly, and stayed in place.
Qatar Airways’ 777 Business Class Dine-On-Demand Meal Service
Since I wanted to get a bit of a kip on this flight (though also wanted to stay up for a bit so I could adjust to Europe time), I decided to order off Qatar Airways’ late night dining menu. Qatar Airways does dine-on-demand, which is a service that allows you to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. This was communicated clearly to me by Warnika when she first handed me the menu. The dinner menu read as follows:
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Menu
The wine list read as follows:
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Wine List
After my orders were taken by the male flight attendant, he came around and laid my table. Qatar Airways’ table layout looks really classy, especially with the fake candle – it’s a key teller to the amount of effort put into this airline’s business class soft product.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Table Set
Right after that he came back with a red pepper soup. It was really flavourful, and had a spicy kick to it as well – not to mention that it came with a porcelain lid that was removed at my table. Spectacular.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Appetiser – Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Shortly after I was done my soup, the male flight attendant came back and took my soup. He then came back with my main course.
I think the chemistry between Qatar Airways and Western-style main courses just isn’t there. I ordered a fried halibut fillet with lemon sauce and wild rice. The halibut was perfectly cooked and very flavourful, though there was something about the soggy root vegetables and overpowering cardamom in the rice that didn’t “add up” into a cohesive dish. The lemon sauce did help somewhat balance out the flavours, though overall I wasn’t a fan of this main course.
If I needed to suggest an improvement, I’d use a plate instead of a bowl, so the main course could be less sloppily presented; I’d use less cardamom in the rice, and balance the aromatics out with a pinch of salt. The biggest improvement I’d make, though, is not to pile the root vegetables atop one another, as the moisture from the topmost vegetables “drip” onto the pieces below making them soggy and bland. Instead, I’d lay them out, since I’d have the space to do so on a plate. It wasn’t a bad effort, though, and certainly not the worst airplane meal I’ve had on this trip.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Meal – Fried Halibut Fillet with Lemon Sauce and Wild Rice
My table was cleared right after I was done with my main course. I had ordered dessert, which was served to me after.
This dessert redeemed all the shortcomings of the main course. It’s hard to go wrong with warm crumble and creme anglaise, though the addition of pistachio, green tea, the tart raspberry filling and the strawberries on top made for a sublime combination. Last year I had an amazing dessert on Virgin Atlantic that consisted of a similar combination, and I called it one of the best desserts I’ve had anywhere – I think this dessert might trump that one. Then again, I’m a sucker for creme anglaise…
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Dessert – Warm Pistachio Crumble Green Tea Cake with Raspberry Filling
Once I was done with my dessert, the male crewmember came over and cleared my table, and left some chocolates and paper towels.
The entire meal service, from being served my soup to being served chocolate, took a total of 30 minutes. The meal consisted of three full courses, and I also spent 5-10 minutes taking my time to eat each course. While service was probably especially quick since quite a few passengers went straight to sleep due to the 2 AM takeoff time, there’s no denying that Qatar Airways has mastered the dine-on-demand service procedure.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Post-Meal Service Chocolates
Qatar Airways’ 777 QSuite Bed
Afterwards the male flight attendant asked me if I wanted my bed set. When going to the bathroom I realised that seats 1E and 1F were left empty, so asked him if I could use a double bed for the night. He said “yes, we can do that”.
Qatar Airways offers mattress pads to all passengers, though the standard procedure is just that they leave the seat in upright mode, just in case you want to get comfortable beforehand. The flight attendants making my bed went the distance to help me recline my seat, and lay the blanket out for me as well (and they also placed the decorative pillows in a hotel-like way).
The male flight attendant also asked me if I’d like my photo taken in the double bed, and I obliged. Unfortunately my camera was playing up at that point, so I asked Warnika if I could have my photo taken again. She took a few photos for me, then said “I’m not the best at taking photos, though my colleague [the male flight attendant] is really good at taking photos, so I’ll call him over instead”. I found that very considerate, and I appreciated their desire to help. (He also made artistic choices such as turning the TVs on – how neat!).
Yours truly in Qatar Airways’ impressive double bed
Getting a double bed to yourself in Qatar Airways’ QSuite is insane, though there is a noticeable bump between seats. The flight attendants use a “bed filler” to close that gap, though it isn’t seamless. Furthermore, if you’re seated in the middle seats with a significant other, you won’t be able to properly cuddle in these seats, since there’s a partition by the footwells.
However, it’s undeniable that even as individual seats, the QSuite offers more space than any other seat I’ve ever flown. The door plays such an integral part in making the space truly “yours”. For example, when you’re trying to pass someone else in the aisle in a non-enclosed business class seat, you might be inclined to pop into “someone else’s space” so the other person can pass through; you can’t do that here because of the door.
Furthermore, while the seat walls aren’t floor-to-ceiling, they’re definitely higher than I otherwise thought they would’ve been. You’d be able to look out of your suite if you stood up, though you couldn’t see anybody when you were sitting down with the door closed, and certainly couldn’t in bed mode.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Double Bed
I slept incredibly well for four hours, though woke up after that, probably from a combination of alcohol and excitement.
Qatar Airways’ 777 WiFi
Qatar Airways offers their new “Super WiFi” on QSuite-equipped 777s (and also select non-QSuite 777s). All passengers are entitled to a complimentary hour of access, then you can purchase a full flight plan for US$10, which is really cheap for unlimited WiFi if you ask me. You can play the system a bit (e.g. use free WiFi for an hour on your phone, then switch to your computer), though I just ended up purchasing a full flight plan. The WiFi measured 8 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up, which I considered to be very impressive, though it did become patchier and slow down considerably as we flew over Iran.
Qatar Airways’ 777 Business Class Meal Service
After rolling around in my double bed on my phone for an hour, I decided it was time to get breakfast. The breakfast menu read as follows:
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Menu
I’d eaten three separate dinners the night prior (at home, at the Plaza Premium First lounge, and onboard), so I wasn’t particularly hungry. I decided to go for the buttermilk waffles. These waffles weren’t spectacular – definitely on the softer side – though the flavours were good. I’m just happy that Qatar Airways puts effort into their breakfast as well, and doesn’t call it a day by serving a half-assed egg dish.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Breakfast – Buttermilk Waffles with Strawberry Coulis
Once I was done with my breakfast, I returned to my seat to work for a little while, and also enjoyed the sunrise outside the window as we drew nearer and nearer to Doha.
Sunrise into Doha Airport
As the day got brighter outside, more passengers seemed to wake up at this time, so the crew turned on some beautiful mood lighting.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Cabin During Sunrise
Qatar Airways’ 777 Business Class Entertainment System
At this point I took the chance to check out the entertainment system. The screens in QSuite are huge, and they’re also not too far away from you, which is a treat. The entertainment system itself featured an abundance of movies, and the interface was really easy to navigate – my parents especially enjoyed their extensive Bollywood selection. The music selection looked good as well, and I’m glad that they load entire seasons of TV shows onto the entertainment system (which is great for binging).
However, there was no “display off” button, which meant you had to wait for the screen to turn off by itself if you wanted to sleep – I found that a bit of an oversight, though personally wasn’t affected by it, since the screen turned off pretty quickly.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Entertainment System
In comparison to the rest of the revamped entertainment system, the airshow is a little ancient in comparison, and you couldn’t switch between the different viewpoints (though I’m happy they had the cockpit function, where you could see the altitude and flying angle of the aircraft).
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Airshow
Landing into Doha Airport
Shortly before landing, the crew came around with mints. Warnika dropped by my seat to ask how I thought the flight was, and if I had any feedback on the QSuite or on the flight as a whole. I told her that I’d flown a lot of business class products before, and was struggling to find criticism on the entire flight, from the spectacular QSuite to the stellar service.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class Mint
We enjoyed even better takeoff views as we descended into Doha, though there wasn’t much in the way of a skyline (as we used an approach over the water, and only had views of the coastline).
Landing into Doha Airport
I was surprised that my WiFi plan lasted all the way until we touched down onto the ground. Qatar Airways isn’t skimping on their WiFi investment for sure!
Anyway, we touched down into Doha Airport at around 5:20 AM, and made a short taxi to our remote stand. During our taxi, we enjoyed a view of other Qatar Airways widebody planes under a beautiful sunrise backdrop. The captain came onto the PA to thank us for choosing Qatar Airways, and also to inform us of the local temperature of 35°C.
Qatar Airways Airbus A350 Deplaning Doha Airport
Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Doha Airport
We parked at a remote stand just short of the terminal, parking next to a Qatar Airways 777-200LR.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Doha Airport
It didn’t take long for the plane to be hooked up to the airstairs, so I bid farewell to the amazing crew and headed on my way to my connection to Amsterdam.
I was ready for some crazy Doha heat that would make my camera lens fog, though it was also pretty dry, so the weather wasn’t so unpleasant after all. It was my first time deplaning from a bus gate in a long while (unless you count my tour of Hong Kong Airlines’ A350), so it was cool to have a direct view of the two-year-old plane that had been home for the past 8 hours.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Doha Airport
I was signalled by a ground staff to hurry up and head into the bus, and we began our 5-minute ride over to the transit/immigration counters at Doha Airport. I thought I was in for a pleasant transit, but that was a bit of wishful thinking, unfortunately…
Bottom Line: Qatar Airways 777 QSuite
Qatar Airways’ QSuite is an absolute winner. While other airlines are beginning to catch up and offer comparable hard products, the QSuite brought revolution to the business class market. I was impressed by how smartly this seat was configured, in a way that maximised personal space while not impeding seat count. There are the same number of business class seats between doors 1 and 2 in a QSuite-equipped 777 as there are in a non-QSuite-equipped 777, which is insane. In addition, everything was so practically placed, and I found the seat to be very passenger-friendly. That’s a hard balance to strike, and Qatar Airways nailed it. I’ve addressed the few issues that they didn’t nail above, though the QSuite is a clear reflection of the ambition and attention to detail that the Qatar Airways team has.
In terms of the soft product, I have no complaints about the service – this was by far the best out of all the crews I’ve had on Qatar Airways so far, and also one of the best I’ve ever had – if anyone from Qatar Airways is reading this, I extend my compliments and best regards to the crew serving QR815 on August 3, 2019. I’m also a fan of how well-executed Qatar Airways’ dine-on-demand scheme is, as it really allows passengers to customise and personalise their flying experience – Qatar Airways is a master of their own craft in that regard. That being said, I don’t know why Qatar Airways keeps dropping the ball on main courses, despite the effort they put into tableware and plating; though my soup and dessert were very good on this flight.
My biggest beef with the QSuite is still the fact that you’re not guaranteed this product until your plane leaves Doha. For a while, Qatar Airways charged a 100 USD surcharge for QSuite-operated flights, which wasn’t refunded if your aircraft was changed due to “extraordinary circumstances”. I don’t know if the surcharge still exists, though the airline doesn’t do a great job at delivering what they’ve promised in this regard. Heck, the exact same flight between Hong Kong and Doha leaving this morning (QR815) was swapped to a non-QSuites configuration for the fourth time this week at the time of writing, which I find quite ridiculous. There shouldn’t be a reason to gamble for this product when you can be guaranteed a reverse herringbone seat or another great product on another airline at a comparable price, especially considering how far behind Qatar Airways’ other 777 product is (stay tuned).
When you do get to fly the QSuite though, it’s easily one of the best business class products out there. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I need to try ANA’s new business class product, as I can’t imagine it’ll get much better than this.
Read more from this trip:
Have you flown the QSuite before? How was your experience? How does this product compare to other enclosed-suite business class products out there, such as on British Airways, Delta, and ANA?