After a really lengthy day at Doha Airprot exploring most of the airport’s lounges, it was time for us to proceed our around the world journey, by flying Qatar Airways’ Airbus A380 top quality from Doha to Perth.
Flying top quality is at all times a deal with (nicely, besides on TAAG Angola), however this flight was additional particular, as we had the cabin all to ourselves. This was my first time taking a “true” lengthy haul flight in Qatar Airways’ top quality, so I used to be curious how the expertise would stack up.
Effectively, all-in-all, it was in fact an extremely nice flight, with a snug and personal cabin, and good facilities, service, and meals. Nonetheless, I really feel like Qatar Airways’ drawback is that the service’s enterprise class is simply too good, and there’s not sufficient differentiation with top quality.
If an airline is outstanding in enterprise class, you sort of hope that it’ll even be distinctive in top quality, however I don’t discover that to be the case on Qatar Airways. I suppose this shouldn’t come as a shock, because the airline plans to remove top quality sooner or later.
How I booked our Qatar Airways top quality tickets
I booked our Qatar Airways top quality tickets utilizing American AAdvantage miles. Particularly, I booked the next for 100,000 American AAdvantage miles plus $104.50 in taxes and charges per individual, which is a improbable worth:
5/23 QR900 Doha to Perth departing 2:25AM arriving 6:20PM
I discovered availability immediately on aa.com, and booked about two weeks earlier than departure.
Qatar Airways top quality lounge & boarding
In a earlier installment, I reviewed Qatar Airways’ Al Safwa First Lounge, the place we spent a lot of the day. Qatar Airways presents a prime notch floor expertise, and we additionally loved testing the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Backyard Lounge.
Our flight was departing on the ungodly (however completely customary for the Center East) time of two:25AM, with boarding scheduled at 1:40AM, 45 minutes earlier than departure. We had been departing from gate C12, a couple of 10-minute stroll from the lounge. There was an additional safety screening on the gate (I imagine that is customary for flights to Australia), and boarding then began proper on-time.
Qatar Airways A380 top quality cabin & seats
It’s at all times so enjoyable to board by the A380 higher deck. On the door we had been greeted by the pleasant crew, and escorted the brief distance to the primary class cabin. Qatar Airways’ A380 top quality is situated on the entrance of the higher deck, and consists of eight seats, unfold throughout two rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.
Qatar Airways’ A380 top quality isn’t probably the most non-public or leading edge on the earth, however I do discover it to be extremely elegant. For that matter, any cabin is non-public when you have got it to your self. 😉
These touring collectively might take pleasure in sitting in one of many pairs of heart seats, which let you benefit from the flight collectively, simply speak, and so forth.
Nonetheless, in case you’re touring alone in considered one of these heart seats, fear not, as there’s a partition that may be raised between seats, and it goes fairly excessive.
I assigned us seats 1A and 2A, although in fact we may transfer round as we wished. I supplied my dad 1A, and determined to sit down in 2A.
Truthfully, in comparison with another top quality suites these days, Qatar Airways’ A380 top quality is pretty easy, and that’s not a foul factor, as I discover the seat to be virtually designed.
For one, whereas the seat doesn’t have a door, it does have a privateness protect that may be raised or lowered, which implies you gained’t see anybody else within the cabin whereas seated.
The seat additionally has a big ottoman that doubles as a buddy seat, must you need to dine face-to-face with somebody. In any other case the ottoman turns into a part of the seat. There’s additionally a 26″ tv monitor mounted to the again of the seat in entrance, so it’s one of many greater TVs you’ll discover within the sky.
The tray desk will be prolonged from the facet of the seat, and is large, so has loads of house for having fun with a meal with another person.
There’s a small literature pocket to the facet of the seat.
On the aisle-side armrest there’s a controller that can be utilized to regulate the seat, some buttons to manage seat features, and in addition a storage pocket that’s sufficiently big for headphones.
On the window-side armrest there’s a controller that can be utilized to manage the leisure, in addition to a storage pocket that’s sufficiently big for a bottle of water.
The AC energy outlet is situated subsequent to the leisure display, and isn’t very useful, for my part:
- You need to get out of your seat to plug something in (except you have got the world’s longest arms)
- The outlet is possibly a centimeter inside a compartment, so in case you’re like me and have an Apple charger with a “block,” it gained’t slot in right here
As you might need observed above, there are not any overhead bins in top quality. As an alternative, every passenger has a wardrobe to the facet of their seat, the place they hold garments, and might even place one thing alongside the traces of a small laptop computer bag.
For added baggage storage, there are some lockers on the entrance of the cabin, the place top quality passengers can place full dimension carry-ons.
All-in-all, I’d say this can be a completely good top quality product, but it surely’s not about to win any awards. The cabin is kind of spacious, and it’s even nicer when you haven’t any different passengers. One factor I didn’t love was the dearth of any air nozzles, so there wasn’t the flexibility to manage airflow across the seat.
Qatar Airways A380 enterprise class cabin & seats
Since I used to be the primary to board (as we had been the one ones in top quality), I additionally shortly regarded on the enterprise class cabin throughout boarding, and snapped some footage, which I figured I’d share. Qatar Airways’ A380s have one of many service’s older technology enterprise class merchandise, that are customary reverse herringbone seats.
These seats are good, although not as good as you’d discover within the service’s Qsuites enterprise class (on choose Airbus A350s and Boeing 777s), in addition to within the service’s Boeing 787-9 enterprise class.
Qatar Airways top quality facilities
So, what are Qatar Airways’ top quality facilities like? When you’re used to Qatar Airways enterprise class, they need to look acquainted. Ready at every seat upon boarding was a pillow and blanket, each of which had been fairly snug.
There have been additionally a pair of headphones, which had been fairly primary for top quality.
Upon settling in, we had been supplied our selection of pre-departure drinks. My dad and I each ordered champagne — Qatar Airways presently serves Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millenaires 2007. Whereas not fairly as “massive title” as Dom Perignon or Krug, I loved it immensely. It was served with a ramekin of olives and parmesan cheese, in addition to a packaged refreshing towel from Diptyque.
We had been then served Arabic espresso and packaged dates.
We had been additionally supplied pajamas and slippers from The White Firm, the identical that you just’ll discover in enterprise class.
Then there was the Diptyque amenity package, consisting of socks, physique lotion, face cream, lip balm, and a perfume. Different primary facilities can be found within the bathroom.
Subsequent up was the menu and wine checklist for the flight. Because the cabin service supervisor introduced these to us, she reminded us that Qatar Airways has a dine on demand idea, so we may have what we wished, after we wished.
Lastly we had been supplied the touchdown card for Australia, plus a voucher free of charge Wi-Fi.
Qatar Airways A380 top quality leisure & Wi-Fi
Qatar Airways’ Oryx One leisure system presents an enormous choice of motion pictures and TV reveals. One factor I don’t love in regards to the A380 is that the primary class leisure screens aren’t touchscreen, however as an alternative you need to use the controller.
Someway I used to be underneath the impression that you would solely view the leisure choice on the controller itself, which isn’t very best, because it’s sort of laborious to browse a whole bunch of flicks on a display that’s so small. Nonetheless, a reader identified that apparently you may view the choice on the primary display utilizing some form of a distant mode, whereby the display reveals your choices. I’m nonetheless undecided precisely how that works, although, because it doesn’t appear very intuitive.
Regardless of my challenges with viewing the choices, Qatar Airways’ leisure choice is infinite.
Qatar Airways’ A380s even have Wi-Fi, although it’s the slowest connection you’ll discover within the fleet. Beneath the perfect of circumstances, Wi-Fi is excruciatingly sluggish, and pales compared to the “Tremendous Wi-Fi” you’ll discover on Qatar Airways’ newer jets.
The pricing isn’t low-cost both:
- You may get a one hour move with as much as 30MB of information for $5
- You may get a 3 hour move with as much as 100MB of information for $10
- You may get a full-flight move with as much as 200 MB of information for $20
The pricing isn’t horrible on the floor given for a way lengthy you should use the Wi-Fi, however reasonably the problem is the very restricted information you should use.
Luckily as a first-class passenger, I obtained free Wi-Fi for as much as 200MB of information.
The Wi-Fi labored for roughly the primary hour of the flight, and was very sluggish, as anticipated. Sadly after that, the Wi-Fi broke for the remainder of the flight, and the crew wasn’t in a position to repair it, regardless of making an attempt to reset it. That’s fairly disappointing, although admittedly stuff like that occurs.
Qatar Airways A380 departure from Doha
Boarding wrapped up at round 2:15AM, 10 minutes forward of scheduled departure. Round this time the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our cruising altitude of 39,000 toes, and our flight time of 10hr30min.
As talked about above, we had been the one ones in top quality, whereas enterprise class had only a few empty seats (I’m undecided how full economic system was). The door closed at round 2:20AM, at which level the protection video was screened.
As we taxied out, I loved watching the tail digital camera, which is considered one of my favourite options of the A380.
We had fairly a protracted taxi, and at 2:45AM we rocketed down runway 36R for our takeoff. As soon as airborne, I transitioned from the tail digital camera to the shifting map.
The seatbelt signal was turned off about 5 minutes after takeoff, at which level the crew started inflight service. One of many good issues about having the cabin to your self is that you would be able to principally select whether or not you need the lights on or off. My dad requested the crew for some good ambiance, so under is what the cabin regarded like throughout our meal service — enjoyable!
Qatar Airways top quality dinner service
Surprisingly sufficient, my dad and I each form of had a second wind at round 3AM, so we had been able to take pleasure in our dinner. Under you could find the primary class menu for this flight.
Then under you could find the drink checklist for this flight.
A few ideas on the menu:
- Except caviar, the menu regarded mighty much like the Qatar Airways enterprise class menu
- The menu was extra restricted than what you’d discover on Emirates’ Dubai to Perth route, which departs and arrives across the identical time; see for your self by going to this web page and typing in flight EK420, the place you may see the choice
After takeoff, I made a decision to have one other glass of champagne. In any case, the bottle was already opened, and I didn’t need it to go to waste. 😉 I used to be served some blended nuts to go together with that. I apologize for the bizarre picture colours, as a result of on reflection I notice that the cabin lighting we selected wasn’t very best for footage.
My dad and I each began our meal with caviar, which was properly introduced, although maybe not as over-the-top as what you’d discover on Emirates.
I then went straight to the primary course, and had the nice and cozy open confronted XO lobster sandwich on a toasted brioche bun with frisée salad. The dish was pretty first rate, however not memorable. It looks as if an odd factor to serve on a aircraft, because it’s laborious to execute nicely given the constraints of inflight catering.
My dad, in the meantime, determined to have a cream of mushroom soup, which was the soup of the day.
For the primary course, my dad chosen the meat noodle soup with shiitake mushroom and pak choy.
I made a decision to have a dessert, and went with the one choice, which was the pandan sago mousse with mango ardour fruit compote. It was good, although personally I’m not an enormous fan of candy, fruity desserts.
The meal service tempo was properly personalized for us, as you’d anticipate, provided that we had two flight attendants solely taking care of us. Truthfully, apart from the caviar, the meals choice didn’t impress me a lot, and I’ve had higher meals in enterprise class on Qatar Airways.
By the point we completed our meal, the solar had risen… simply in time for the window shades to be closed so we may get some shuteye.
Qatar Airways A380 top quality bathrooms
On the conclusion of the meal, I checked out the bathrooms on the entrance of the cabin. The A380 has some additional house on the entrance of the higher deck to the facet of the staircase, and Qatar Airways makes use of that house to have a few of the finest airplane bogs you’ll discover within the sky (although to not the extent of Emirates’ A380 bathe suites).
There are two massive bogs, every with a really lengthy bench, a rest room, and a sink. It’s so good how spacious these are, although the house isn’t essentially utilized in a really thrilling method.
The bathroom had Diptyque facilities, as is customary in Qatar Airways premium cabins.
There have been additionally different facilities, together with shaving kits, dental kits, mouthwash, floss, and extra.
Qatar Airways A380 enterprise class bar
One other superior function of the Qatar Airways A380 is the onboard bar. The A380 has a bar behind the enterprise class cabin (in entrance of a mini economic system cabin), and I’d say that is really extra elegant than the Emirates A380 bar. The bar has a cool form, after which there’s seating on both sides of the bar.
There have been some primary snacks on the bar, together with packaged snacks, fruit, and a few sweets in little jars.
The world the place the Qatar Airways bar lags the Emirates bar is in terms of cocktails. Qatar Airways doesn’t have practically the cocktail choice you’ll discover on Emirates, which takes away a bit from the enjoyable of leaving your seat to go to the bar. Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic place to hang around and stretch your lags.
Qatar Airways A380 top quality mattress
Upon returning to our seats, we discovered that our beds had been made for the flight. The Qatar Airways A380 top quality mattress is spacious and cozy. I simply want that the bedding had been a bit higher, as there’s not a correct mattress pad, however reasonably it’s extra like a sheet.
I used to be actually drained at this level, and ended up going to sleep slightly below 9 hours from our arrival in Perth.
I wakened simply over 2hr30min from Perth, so I slept for round six hours. For me that’s actually good so far as aircraft sleep goes!
Qatar Airways top quality breakfast service
Upon waking up, I ordered a cappuccino, which was served on a tray with a heat towel.
About half-hour later I ordered breakfast. My tray desk was properly set, with a bread and pastry basket, in addition to a plate with salt & pepper grinders, jam, and butter. My meal began with the greek yogurt with ardour fruit, mango coulis, and toasted granola with nuts, which I’ve had many occasions earlier than in Qatar Airways enterprise class, and at all times take pleasure in.
Then for my predominant course, I had the Qatari model breakfast with kuboos bread, foul, balaleet, and scrambled egg with Arabic spice and tomato. This dish was scrumptious.
I had an iced latte to go together with this.
My dad determined to have the baked doughnut with Nutella, with contemporary berries, apple compote, and creme anglaise. Lol. He has a candy tooth for breakfast generally, which at all times cracks me up (in equity, he walks for hours a day, so he can afford to eat no matter he desires!).
Qatar Airways top quality service
The 2 flight attendants working top quality had been from Malaysia and Thailand, and the cabin service supervisor was additionally Malaysian. All three had been pleasant and attentive, so I’ve nothing detrimental to say there.
Qatar Airways A380 arrival in Perth
Earlier than we knew it, we had been already approaching Perth. At 5:35PM native time, the captain introduced that we’d be touchdown in about 40 minutes, and would quickly be descending. At this level it was nonetheless mild exterior, however I knew the solar would shortly set, making for a really brief day.
About quarter-hour later the seatbelt signal was turned on.
Whereas our descent was initially easy, we hit a number of bumps on the ultimate method, because it was wet and windy in Perth. We had a wonderfully easy landing there at 6:15PM.
From there it was a roughly 5 minute taxi to our arrival gate, the place we pulled in subsequent to an Emirates A380.
Immigration took fairly a while. I do know Australia tends to have fairly tight border management. While you undergo customs, both you’re despatched straight by, or should undergo an additional test, and we had been chosen for the latter on this case (I assume being in Perth for only one night time whereas enroute from Doha to Los Angeles was a bit suspicious to them!).
From there we had been chosen for yet one more secondary. The entire course of took round half-hour. As soon as that was full, we had been on our approach to the Ritz-Carlton Perth, the place we’d be spending the night time.
Backside line
We had a beautiful flight in Qatar Airways’ Airbus A380 top quality. It’s such a deal with to have the cabin all to your self, and there’s quite a bit I beloved about this flight, together with the elegant cabin, the bogs and bar, the pleasant service, and the truth that I acquired a terrific night time of sleep.
Nonetheless, I can’t assist however simply not be that impressed by Qatar Airways’ top quality. Qatar Airways places a lot effort into providing the world’s finest enterprise class, however then does little to distinguish its top quality. Add within the downsides in comparison with Qatar Airways’ enterprise class, like the dearth of air nozzles, the non-functioning Wi-Fi, and the facility retailers that may’t accommodate a fairly customary laptop computer charger, and I’d say there’s lots of room for improvment.
However we gained’t see that enchancment, as a result of Qatar Airways plans to remove top quality sooner or later, and as an alternative concentrate on enterprise class, which is honest sufficient. Finally when redeeming miles I believe it’s nonetheless well worth the improve, however I don’t see a lot worth in paying for Qatar Airways top quality, when enterprise class is so good.
What’s your tackle Qatar Airways’ A380 top quality?
