Again in 2017 we coated Qatar Airways’ reveal of its new Qsuite enterprise class seat. However 2017 was a very long time in the past. How has Qatar’s flagship product fared since then? The brief reply is: it’s doing VERY properly. Qsuite stays an enormous favourite amongst amongst frequent flyers, and it has helped drive Qatar to the highest of many international airline rankings.
However it’s been virtually eight years since Qsuite hit the skies, and that’s an eternity within the ultra-competitive world of premium cabin air journey. How does it maintain up at this time? We acquired to search out out by making a Qsuite our home-suite-home on a long-haul flight from New York to Doha.
Did Qatar’s enterprise class maintain as much as the hype? Our full story has our reply, plus loads of the standard images, movies, and window-seat views so that you can take pleasure in alongside the best way. Don’t miss out — learn on!
Preflight enjoyable @ JFK
At New York-JFK Qatar Airways operates out of Terminal 8, the house base of its oneworld alliance associate American Airways. Qatar presently operates three flights a time out of New York, spaced out throughout the day.
Qatar Airways doesn’t function its personal lounge at JFK, however that’s superb as a result of American and British collectively function three of them at JFK. Passengers flying a premium cabin with any of American’s oneworld companions get entry to the Greenwich Lounge, which is the place we spent our pre-flight time.
It’s a fresh-looking house with loads of seating. One in every of its focal factors is a giant champagne and wine bar proper at its heart. Then there are two distinctive corners of the lounge: a pub with beer and bar bites known as the Tasting Room, and the extra cocktail-focused Bridge Bar.
These areas aren’t open within the morning so we couldn’t go to them this time. We didn’t thoughts, because the nice views onto the ramp stored us well-entertained.
We noticed the 777-300ER we have been about to board.
Getting onboard
The Qsuite cabin’s decor is as trendy as ever, even eight years after its preliminary rollout.
Not all of Qatar’s 777s have Qsuite onboard, so be certain to have a look at the seat map if you’re reserving.
It’s a really well-designed seat, with loads of house, intuitively positioned options, and smooth finishes.
The seat’s greatest benefit is constructed into its title: it’s a set with a door.
There are massive variations between the totally different seats within the structure, so it’s vital to select fastidiously.
When you’re flying solo, seats A/Okay are most likely your finest guess. They’re the window seats closest to the home windows, with two or three home windows per seat.
Bear in mind that these seats face the again of the airplane. However no less than they’re a bit extra comfortable than a number of the extra *ahem* classic rearward-facing seats we’ve seen in earlier eras:
The forward-facing Qsuite window seats (B/J) are nearer to the aisle and should solely have one window per seat. Although all issues thought of they’re nonetheless good.
When you’re touring as a twosome the E/F seats are nice, since they’ll develop into a double suite of types. When you get bored with your journey companion you’ll be able to all the time elevate a divider between the seats.
One in every of Qsuite’s most original design options is “The Quad,” which permits every cluster of 4 seats within the heart part to show right into a linked unit with the assistance of some sliding dividers.
Every seat has an infinite leisure display.
The seat itself isn’t that large however there’s loads of shoulder room within the suite as an entire.
A deep storage bin beside every seat gives house for a small bag or laptop computer.
The console in entrance of every seat presents a number of types of energy / USB retailers and a few extra cupboard space.
Throughout boarding there was a towelette and Diptyque amenity package at each seat.
A flight attendant got here by to introduce himself and get us settled in.
Quickly sufficient we have been rolling. There’s all the time wonderful taxiway planespotting at JFK.
The window seat views have been attractive as we took off from runway 31L and did a gradual loop over Lengthy Island on climb-out:
Inflight service will get going
Meal service in Qsuite is totally dine-on-demand, which means you’re not constrained to pre-set mealtimes. Earlier than takeoff our flight attendant requested us what we needed for our first meal and once we needed it. Although dining-on-demand presents numerous flexibility, in observe most individuals have their predominant meal after takeoff.
As soon as we hit cruise climb we tried extra of Qatar’s wonderful wine lineup.
Right here’s a take a look at the menu for the flight.
As a bonus function, you’ll be able to reserve a meal choice upfront of the flight.
Right here’s a take a look at the drink checklist.
After which there was the wine checklist for the flight. You wine lovers can click on to increase the photographs within the gallery for particulars:
Lunch acquired began with some bread and a small amuse-bouche.
The mezze starter appeared nice however tasted simply OK. Possibly it’s higher on flights departing out of Qatar’s Doha hub.
As with each a part of the meal the principle course appeared stunning, although sadly this poor lobster was very overcooked.
Nonetheless it was a formidable meal total. We ended it with a little bit of dessert.
Qatar’s dine-on-demand system is labor-intensive, and there have been moments when our flight attendant was getting pulled in ten instructions directly. He dealt with these moments in addition to anybody might, however I used to be glad on his behalf when the push of the primary meal service settled down.
In between meal providers the crew stored some trays of snacks close to the galleys.
The expectation appeared to be that almost all passengers would order one predominant meal after which perhaps one of many lighter bites midflight earlier than ending with breakfast. We got here hungry and our flight attendant was completely satisfied bringing us a second predominant meal eight hours into the flight, although he talked about that additional entrees are depending on availability after everybody has their preliminary choose.
We have been grateful as a result of this meal was even tastier than the primary.
Settling in for the lengthy haul
Qatar’s library of leisure content material is in depth.
One small AvGeek critique: we’d have liked to see some exterior digicam views, and the shifting map felt too old-school. Hopefully Qatar’s eventual 777X fleet does higher on each counts.
No less than the noise-cancelling headphones have been good.
WiFi was accessible at an important value: $10 for the total flight, or $8 should you bought it upfront. The protection was spotty however Qatar is rolling out a Starlink-based system that ought to quickly ship higher reliability.
The lavs have been stored in good condition all through the flight.
Qatar opted to incorporate particular person air nozzles on its 777s.
One of many areas the place Qatar critically excels is bedding. Every passenger acquired two substantial pillows and a blanket. Qatar additionally presents premium-cabin passengers pajamas on long-haul flights.
Flight attendants supplied a turndown service with a mattress pad.
All these components got here collectively for an ideal sleep expertise.
Wrapping issues up
After some high quality shut-eye we awakened barely an hour left to Doha.
Qatar’s crews handed out Läderach sweets earlier than the tip of the flight.
It was a hazy hundred-degree desert day in Doha. the view was nonetheless fairly cool although, particularly taxiing by the busy ramp motion at Hamad Worldwide.
We’ll save our adventures round Qatar’s Hamad hub for an additional story.
The decision
After twelve hours flying Qatar Airways’ enterprise class we discovered lots to like:
- Qsuite’s design fully delivers on the hype. It’s a thoughtfully designed seat with all of the options you possibly can need, an ergonomic structure, plentiful storage, and tasteful finishes. The paired heart seats for {couples} and the Quad for bigger teams are icing on the cake.
- An important cabin design can get dragged right down to earth by poor maintenance. However Qatar has stored its Qsuite cabins wanting recent.
- The dine-on-demand system is tremendous passenger-friendly. And total the meals high quality was nice.
- Between the beneficiant bedding, turndown service, Diptyque amenity package, and pajamas, Qatar may simply have a best-in-class sleep expertise.
There have been a number of potential shortcomings:
- Qatar’s flight attendants are usually nice however even the most effective of ’em might get frazzled or miss a request beneath the extreme workload that the dine-on-demand service construction requires.
- The AvGeek in me missed exterior digicam views (observe: Qatar’s A350 subfleet has them). Additionally the shifting map was fairly lame.
After which there’s the extra philosophical debate about suite-style seats normally. Suites are seen as the top of biz class seat design, however that’s to not say that they’re universally standard. The privateness {that a} door gives comes at a price, particularly much less contact with flight attendants and a much less spacious really feel to the cabin.
By comparability, Qatar’s non-Qsuite A350 cabin that we wrote about in a separate story has the fully reverse really feel.
Qatar Airways not too long ago took again the highest place on Skytrax’s 2024 finest airline checklist. No single rating is 100% definitive, however after our time in Qsuite we will see why Qatar is such a formidable contender. And with a next-gen Qsuite coming down the pipeline, the airline clearly goals to remain on its A-game.
Now it’s time for us to listen to from you. Share your ideas within the feedback part under.
Be aware: This journey was booked with miles. Qatar usually presents good award availability should you’re in a position to guide one yr upfront when the award calendar opens up, although they’ve been elevating charges for some redemptions not too long ago.
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