Boeta
Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2011
- Posts
- 117
Evening all,
I had the privilege to be able to experience business class for the first time recently and felt the urge to share with you the experience. Also my first TR so I welcome the feedback !
Sorry if it photo heavy, there was five times as many and I had to cull...
QR 639 – DPS – (xSIN) – DOH
25[SUP]th[/SUP] Apr 12
STD – 22:40 ATD – 22:30
Capt - O. Singh
CSM – Olga
Aircraft – 77W - A7-BAB
Seat – 2F
Checked in for our flight 2 hours prior and there were 7 counters open for our flight, fortunately the business line had 2 people whilst the economy line looked like a solid hour long. Check-in was very easy and our pre-selected seats in row 2 were still waiting for us, and we were issued lounge passes for the 'Prada' Lounge.
Unfortunately this lounge was certainly at capacity with little to no seats available, with the lounge seemingly being shared by JQ and DJ passengers and the QR crew who were operating our flight had occupied a quarter of the lounge also. I had expected this though, mostly due to the leisure route nature of this leg.
Food offerings in the 'Prada' lounge were basic, samosas, noodles and small sweets, which all looked most unappealing. So I settled down with my gin & tonic and opted to wait to try the offering on-board. Boarding commenced nice and early however there was no semblance of a priority line, although there was no great queue and we were warmly meet by the CSM at the door.
With champagne in hand the flight departed 10mins early.
For the short hop to Singapore there was an amazing supper of Sushi, followed by a main of ‘Ayam Bumbu Berlado’ which was a mild chicken curry with coconut rice and French beans and for dessert, fresh fruit... All very tasty.
However no amenities bags or pyjamas on this leg, so I sampled the in-flight entertainment system 'Oryx', which worked very well and had a reasonable selection of recent movies including a vast selection of foreign language films.
For our brief 1hr stop in SIN, we were required to remove all of our belongings and re-clear security. With a quick crew change the new Qatar crew were quickly on board preparing for the trip to DOH.
Business class passengers were called first to board and were promptly through the gate to the amazing 777-300ER cabin. Cabin Supervisor Olga, was incredibly attentive and friendly, we were offered another glass of champagne before departure and pushed only a couple of minutes late. My travel partner opted to try the supper offering... However I decided sleep was the order of the day.
After changing into the surprisingly comfortable Qatar airways pyjamas I pushed the large seat into the completely lie flat position and must have slept 6 of the 8 hour flight, only to be woken by the lovely Olga who had previously asked if I wanted to be woken for breakfast. The bed/seat was incredibly comfortable, particularly for someone like myself who always sleeps on their side, so I awoke feeling refreshed and happy.
Of the several choices for breakfast I opted for the tropical fruit with wild honey yoghurt to start and a creamy scrambled egg with tomato and feta cheese on toasted English muffin with fresh asparagus and herb chicken patty.
The breakfast was very good and not to heavy.
Overall both legs of the flight were amazingly smooth and comfortable.
Transiting the premium lounge at DOH didn't start too well, despite all of the videos played on board indicating first and business pax would be transferred by 'luxury' coach or limousine, unfortunately is was the opposite. We were ushered onboard an already crowded mass transit bus (I can only presume from another flight), with standing room only and then driven around the airport for 20mins dropping off other connecting passengers to various parts of the airport.
Not that it was a terrible way of having to traverse an airport, Qatar perhaps need to change their website and on-board videos to change the premium passengers expectations.
Having arrived at the premium terminal there is a quick rescreening of bags then you pass by the ultra-premium retail stores on the ground floor with the gates, upstairs to the very lush business class lounge.
With in excess of 3 different stations to sample the delicacies there was no congestion (except for the showers which involved a 10min wait).
Lounge staff randomly walked around the lounge looking for people without drinks and promptly offered us a coffee. This was despite there being at least half a dozen different drink stations including a full tea brewing station with more types of tea than you could dream of. Overall the lounge was busy/full without feeling crowded, and a great experience.
I had the privilege to be able to experience business class for the first time recently and felt the urge to share with you the experience. Also my first TR so I welcome the feedback !
Sorry if it photo heavy, there was five times as many and I had to cull...
QR 639 – DPS – (xSIN) – DOH
25[SUP]th[/SUP] Apr 12
STD – 22:40 ATD – 22:30
Capt - O. Singh
CSM – Olga
Aircraft – 77W - A7-BAB
Seat – 2F
Checked in for our flight 2 hours prior and there were 7 counters open for our flight, fortunately the business line had 2 people whilst the economy line looked like a solid hour long. Check-in was very easy and our pre-selected seats in row 2 were still waiting for us, and we were issued lounge passes for the 'Prada' Lounge.
Unfortunately this lounge was certainly at capacity with little to no seats available, with the lounge seemingly being shared by JQ and DJ passengers and the QR crew who were operating our flight had occupied a quarter of the lounge also. I had expected this though, mostly due to the leisure route nature of this leg.
Food offerings in the 'Prada' lounge were basic, samosas, noodles and small sweets, which all looked most unappealing. So I settled down with my gin & tonic and opted to wait to try the offering on-board. Boarding commenced nice and early however there was no semblance of a priority line, although there was no great queue and we were warmly meet by the CSM at the door.
With champagne in hand the flight departed 10mins early.
For the short hop to Singapore there was an amazing supper of Sushi, followed by a main of ‘Ayam Bumbu Berlado’ which was a mild chicken curry with coconut rice and French beans and for dessert, fresh fruit... All very tasty.
However no amenities bags or pyjamas on this leg, so I sampled the in-flight entertainment system 'Oryx', which worked very well and had a reasonable selection of recent movies including a vast selection of foreign language films.
For our brief 1hr stop in SIN, we were required to remove all of our belongings and re-clear security. With a quick crew change the new Qatar crew were quickly on board preparing for the trip to DOH.
Business class passengers were called first to board and were promptly through the gate to the amazing 777-300ER cabin. Cabin Supervisor Olga, was incredibly attentive and friendly, we were offered another glass of champagne before departure and pushed only a couple of minutes late. My travel partner opted to try the supper offering... However I decided sleep was the order of the day.
After changing into the surprisingly comfortable Qatar airways pyjamas I pushed the large seat into the completely lie flat position and must have slept 6 of the 8 hour flight, only to be woken by the lovely Olga who had previously asked if I wanted to be woken for breakfast. The bed/seat was incredibly comfortable, particularly for someone like myself who always sleeps on their side, so I awoke feeling refreshed and happy.
Of the several choices for breakfast I opted for the tropical fruit with wild honey yoghurt to start and a creamy scrambled egg with tomato and feta cheese on toasted English muffin with fresh asparagus and herb chicken patty.
The breakfast was very good and not to heavy.
Overall both legs of the flight were amazingly smooth and comfortable.
Transiting the premium lounge at DOH didn't start too well, despite all of the videos played on board indicating first and business pax would be transferred by 'luxury' coach or limousine, unfortunately is was the opposite. We were ushered onboard an already crowded mass transit bus (I can only presume from another flight), with standing room only and then driven around the airport for 20mins dropping off other connecting passengers to various parts of the airport.
Not that it was a terrible way of having to traverse an airport, Qatar perhaps need to change their website and on-board videos to change the premium passengers expectations.
Having arrived at the premium terminal there is a quick rescreening of bags then you pass by the ultra-premium retail stores on the ground floor with the gates, upstairs to the very lush business class lounge.
With in excess of 3 different stations to sample the delicacies there was no congestion (except for the showers which involved a 10min wait).
Lounge staff randomly walked around the lounge looking for people without drinks and promptly offered us a coffee. This was despite there being at least half a dozen different drink stations including a full tea brewing station with more types of tea than you could dream of. Overall the lounge was busy/full without feeling crowded, and a great experience.
