It was time to return to the United States after spending a couple of nights at the Park Hyatt Doha. We flew the business class of the Boeing 777 to Dallas.
I've flown both the A350-1000 and the Qsuites before, and was looking forward to seeing how the product is holding up.
This flight was no exception, as it was business class. From amazing seats, to endless amenities, to reasonably priced wi-fi, to dine on demand, Qatar Airways really offers an amazing passenger experience.
One of my favorite uses of American AAdvantage miles is to fly in business class with Qatar Airways. I paid a total of 70,000 AAdvantage miles and $54.82 in taxes for the flight.
The flight from Doha to Dallas departed at 1:40AM and arrived at 10:00AM.
Not bad for 16hr25min in one of the world's best business class products, eh?
We spent a lot of time in the Al Mourjan Business Lounge, which I reviewed in the previous part. 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time, our flight was departing from gate C2 and was supposed to board.
The gate situation for US bound flights is chaotic. You have to line up so that an agent can review your documents and see if you were selected for secondary screening, when you have an SSSS on your boarding pass. There are separate lines for business class passengers.
All passengers have to go through a security checkpoint, where bags are put through an x-ray and passengers have to walk through metal detectors.
After you go through security, your boarding pass is scanned and you are considered boarded.
Business class passengers were invited to board first, and boarding began at 12:55AM.
42 Qsuites business class seats are distributed over two cabins. There are 24 business class seats between the first and second set of doors.
Behind the second set of doors are 18 business class seats, spread across five rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. I prefer to sit in the back of business class.
The Qsuites business class configuration is staggered, so seats can be forward or rear facing, or be closer to the aisle. I would recommend choosing one of the rear facing seats since they are closer to the windows.
I originally assigned us seats 8K and 10K, so that we would both have window seats. Qsuites has impressed me for a long time for how comfortable and gorgeous it is. The suite is aging well and I am surprised at how little damage there is.
The forward facing window seats are closer to the aisle. While they are still great, the downside is that it is a bit harder to look out the window, and your head is also closer to the door, so some might find those seats to be a bit more claustrophobic. They are still great.
The Qsuites layout is innovative in the center section. The rear facing seats are often referred to as honeymoon seats.
The forward facing seats are closer to the aisle, so they would be my least preferred seats. They don't have windows because they are further from one another. If you are traveling with a group of four, you can create a seat that will turn into a big suite. The flight was too full to try that.
We decided to get two window seats for this flight. I prefer to sit separately and not be blamed for waking Ford up when I can't sleep.
Qsuites is a spectacularly good product. The seats offer a lot of privacy thanks to the doors, but also the attention to detail in the design. I like the large counter to the side of the seat that you can place things without using the tray table, and the huge personal television at each seat.
Most of the seat's features can be found underneath the counter, including the entertainment controller, power outlet, and seat controls.
There is a large storage compartment to the side of the seat, where you can keep everything from a laptop to bottled water.
The tray table is in front of the seat and large.
The footwell is larger than you will find in many staggered configurations. It can be easy to hit your knee on the tray table if you are not careful, but it is more of an issue when sitting up.
The door is a key feature of Qsuites. I find it easy to use the doors on the business class seats of Qatar Airways. Some of the doors on other seats are difficult to open and close.
These doors won't give you full privacy for those who haven't flown Qsuites. If they wanted to, anyone could look over them. The doors make the seat more cozier, and give it a cocoon-like feel.
The last thing to note about the seats is that they have individual air nozzles on the plane, which is a feature I appreciate, as it helps with controlling the flow of air to the seat.
Two lavatories are at the front of the cabin and two are between the two business class cabins on the Boeing 777. The two lavatories between the cabins are large and nice. It's nice that lavatories are getting smaller on many planes.
There were many amenities in the lavatories.
The crew did a great job keeping the bathroom clean. Even a new cover is put on the toilet seat after almost every use. The crews of the airlines work harder than any other crews.
Excellent bedding is one of the many amenities in business class. There were two pillows and a blanket at each seat. This is only part of the bedding when it's time to sleep, and the large pillow is wrapped in a white cover.
There was a new Diptyque kit that included socks, eyeshades, lip balm, body lotion, face cream, and more.
There was a hygiene kit with gloves, hand sanitizer, and a face mask.
I was given pajamas and slippers from The White Company after I arrived. There aren't many airlines that offer pajamas in business class.
There were headphones in our seats.
One of the flight attendants came by to offer pre-departure beverages and a choice of a hot or cold towel. I ordered a cold towel and signature lemon-mint juice.
I love boarding music from a local composer.
30 minutes after it started, boarding ended. There were around 10 empty seats in business class. The captain came on the PA to announce that we were in the air for 16 hours and 18 minutes.
We didn't push back for another 15 minutes, and we both decided to change seats. Ford and I were in seats 8K and 10K, and the guy sitting in 9J didn't seem like someone we wanted to be stuck next to for 17 hours.
I'm pretty sure the guy was drunk. It's fair if he's not being disruptive. He was being disruptive. He whistled to the airline while watching videos on his phone.
I don't like sleeping on planes, so I didn't want to end up sitting a foot from this guy and waking up hours later by him whistling or something. We were moved to the other side of the cabin because the crew was accommodating. I ended up in a window seat that was closer to the aisle and it was worth it for peace and quiet.
The safety video was screened after we pushed back at 1:40AM. 15 minutes after we started our taxi, we were airborne. We had a long takeoff roll and a gradual climb out.
I browsed the Oryx One entertainment system as we climbed out. You should never run out of things to watch even if the flight is long.
There were many different kinds of movies and TV shows.
I was excited to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm on the plane because I usually don't watch TV on planes. The entire season was available through Oryx One, even though I hadn't seen it yet. It's quite annoying to find a show you want and then see that there's only one episode available, that's why it's a pleasure to have the whole season of a show.
The map feature is my favorite feature of inflight entertainment. The most modern interface on the plane is not on the ones owned by Qatar Airways. There is no ability to change the map view, but rather it just cycles through a bunch of different views. The map feature only had ads and other notices, not the map.
The A350s have a better map feature than the 777s.
There is Super wi-fi on the planes. The airline charges $10 for the entire flight with no data caps, which is unbeatable pricing.
I have generally found the speeds of the wi-fi on the airlines to be among the best in the industry, but on this flight it wasn't very high speed. I don't know if it was just the route we took, or if there was something wrong with the antenna on the plane. I have had faster wi-fi on the airlines in the past.
You can order whatever you want in dine on demand in business class. This is useful on a flight that leaves in the middle of the night, where some people may want to sleep after takeoff, while others may want to eat breakfast.
If you don't plan on eating right away, it's a good idea to reserve a few things for later in the flight so that you don't run out. A lot of people just eat a lot of the flight out of boredom, so by the end of the flight your first choice might not be available.
The food menu for business class is below.
You can find the beverage options below. I really like the beverage selection of the airline, from the number of wine options, to the cappuccinos, to the iced lattes.
It was after 2:30AM when we leveled off. My plan was to go to sleep after takeoff, but I got a second wind. I ordered a light dinner. I ordered a glass of champagne and it was served with warm nuts.
I ordered the Arabic mezze with hummus, tabouleh, and baba ghanoush. It was great. The meal was still served on a tray, rather than directly on the tray table, which is to say that it hasn't fully restored its pre-pandemic dining experience. This seems to be the most efficient because the crews stay busy.
I love the presentation of the airline, from the water glasses to the fake candles.
The airline has vegan options in business class, and I ordered a vegan dish for my main course. The dish was delicious and the perfect portion.
I took a nap after dinner, and later on the flight, I ordered a cappuccino with some cookies.
I ordered breakfast a couple of hours later. I ordered a breakfast of tomato, cucumber, and olives with Arabic bread and foul medames. I ordered greek yogurt with fruit and nuts. The breakfast was good.
I ordered an iced latte.
I ordered a pre-landing meal around two hours before landing. The fish curry with tadka rice and papad was the best thing I had on this flight.
I ordered fresh berries with rose water syrup.
I ordered one more cappuccino before I got to the airport and it was served with a warm towel and a box of chocolates.
You won't go hungry in business class.
Business class has turndown service. When it's time to sleep there is a mattress pad on your seat. It's basically a cover that goes around the seat, so it can stay on even if you want your seat to be reclined. A white sheet is placed on the larger pillow by the crew.
The Qsuites beds are comfortable for sleeping. The door makes the seat feel like a piece of furniture. I think I got about two hours of sleep, even with this incredible amount of comfort. I was up for the rest of the flight despite several attempts to fall asleep.
In my experience, the cabins on long haul flights are kept dark because everyone is on a different schedule. The cabin was dark for 16 hours, even though it was light outside for most of the flight.
Even though I have done more than my fair share of flying over the years, taking flights like this and constantly looking at the map never gets old. Aviation is amazing.
Is there a single person who loves researching the random things listed on the map feature? I'm supposed to learn about the bank.
I think that the flight attendants at Qatar Airways are the hardest working in the industry. The level of service that Qatar Airways provides in business class is simply incomparable, and even on a 16 hour flight, it seems like they are hustling nonstop.
Because passengers are constantly eating, and because other airlines don't have many service features such as pre-departure drinks of choice, turndown service, or constantly refreshing the lavatories, that's why.
The crew was friendly and efficient. They were the most personable crew I have ever had. No. They don't have time to slow down and develop connections with passengers because they are so busy.
The cabin manager, who was named Her, was extremely professional. He greeted passengers after boarding, came around later in the flight to see how everyone was enjoying the experience, and also handled a difficult situation with ease.
The captain came on the PA at 9:35AM Dallas time to inform us that we would be descending shortly, and should land in around 40 minutes. It was nice to open the window shades.
The passenger tried to aggressively self-upgrade during the descent, but he did this during boarding, but not as assertively. I wrote about that in a previous post, so I won't write about it here. The crew was praised for how they handled the situation and for calling the cops on the guy.
After arriving at DFW, we had a 15 minute taxi ride to our gate.
We arrived at Terminal D next to Korean Air, Japan Airlines, and the Emirates. We arrived 30 minutes late.
After clearing immigration, we headed back through security to fly back to Florida.
When it comes to the hard and soft product, the standard for business class with Qsuites is set by Qatar Airways. The most well rounded business class product in the world is offered by Qatar Airways.
This was my first time flying Qsuites since the start of the Pandemic, and I am happy that the product is as good as I remembered.
What was your experience with the Qsuites?
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