Welcome to my latest trip report with Qatar Airways!
My ride: A7-ALY. This aircraft was on her way to New York JFK after flying me to Doha.
Introduction
Originally I was supposed to fly to South America in the summer time of 2025 and I wanted to go there because it was winter season in that part of the world. However, things changed and I rescheduled my South America adventure to the end of 2025. My original plan was to fly with Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 from Singapore to Frankfurt then from there I will fly on one of the low cost carriers to Madrid and fly either Air Europa or Iberia to Santiago Chile, however things changed and Lufthansa changed the aircraft type from the Boeing 747-8 to the Boeing 747-400. Considering the age of the aircraft, it was astonishing in my opinion for the airline to be operating this aircraft configured with the old cabin products on this long haul route. Since I had already flown on the airline's Boeing 747-400 years ago, I decided to look at other airlines to fly me to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt I would fly on Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8I to Buenos Aires. Lufthansa doesn't fly to Santiago so to get there, I would need to fly on the airline's Boeing 787-9 and then change flight to Wamos's Airbus A330 from Bogota to Santiago, this sounds attractive but the lure of flying the Boeing 747-8 is too much for me so it was a no brainer choosing this route. From Buenos Aires, I would fly to one of the most desired cities in my wishlist, Ushaia and spent a few days there before returning to Buenos Aires to catch a flight to Santiago, Chile. In Chile, I would spend time at Santiago, Concepcion and Puerto Montt before heading over to Brazil to enjoy some joyrides in some of the cities. Once that is done, I will return to Buenos Aires and fly home with a day stop-over at Frankfurt before flying home with Qatar in economy class.
In the end, I decided on Qatar and booked business class on the flights from Singapore to Frankfurt (via Doha) on Business Class (my birthday treat) as I found a reasonable airfare for the combined class (Business one way and return flights on Economy) but that excludes business class lounge access (Business Lite). I decided to add on the lounge access at Doha to check it out and was it value for money? Stay tuned for the lounge review.
The route, DOH-SIN at this point of time was operated by Qsuite aircraft on all the 3 daily flights so the odds are very high to be able to experience this class. However, there is still a chance of the airline doing an aircraft swop which may result in a change of business class product. Fortunately, I didn't have to find out.
Let me share with you more on my South American flight itinerary, you can check out my trip reports over here. Hotel and Airport Lounges will also be done in this blog. Stay tuned for them!
1. SIN-DOH Qatar A350-900 J Class (This Trip Report)
2. DOH-FRA Qatar B787-8 J Class (Coming soon)
3. FRA-EZE Lufthansa B747-8 Y Class (Coming soon)
4. EZE-USH Flybondi B737-800 Y Class (Coming soon)
5. USH-EZE Jetsmart A320ceo Y class (Coming soon)
6. EZE-SCL LATAM B787-8 Latam + (Coming soon)
7. SCL-PMC Sky Airlines A320neo Y Class (Coming soon)
8. PMC-SCL LATAM A321ceo Y+ Class (Coming soon)
9. SCL-CCP Jetsmart A320ceo Y Class (Coming soon)
10. CCP-SCL Sky Airlines A320neo Y Class (Coming soon)
11. SCL-GRU Sky Airlines A320neo Y Class (Coming soon)
12. GRU-FLN GOL Airlines B737-800 Y Class (Coming soon)
13. FLN-GRU GOL Airlines B737 MAX 8 Y Class (Coming soon)
14. GRU-CNF Azul Airlines ERJ-195 E2 Y Class (Coming soon)
15. CNF-GRU Azul Airlines ERJ-195 E2 Y Class (Coming soon)
16. GRU-EZE Air Canada B787-9 Y+ Class (Coming soon)
17. EZE-FRA Lufthansa B747-8 Y Class (Coming soon)
18. FRA-DOH Qatar Airways B787-9 Y Class (Coming soon)
19. DOH-SIN Qatar Airways A350-1000 Y Class (Coming soon)
SIN- Singapore
DOH- Doha (Qatar)
FRA - Frankfurt (Germany)
EZE - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (Argentina)
USH- Ushuaia (Argentina)
SCL - Santiago (Chile)
PMC- Puerto Montt (Chile)
CCP - Concepcion (Chile)
GRU - Sao Paulo (Brazil)
FLN - Florianopolis (Brazil)
CNF - Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
Without further ado, let's begin this trip report!
About Qatar's Business Class products (Wide-body aircraft only)
There are 7 different business class products featured on Qatar Airways wide-body aircraft and aircraft change happens quite often, either from the older product to the newer product or vice versa, all down to a few factors: Maintenance issue with the original scheduled aircraft, late arrival of the original scheduled aircraft so they have to swop with a replacement aircraft (which features a different business class cabin) or an upguage in aircraft capacity due to higher demand.
The airline operates a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft for its widebody fleet.
Source and Seat Maps: Aerolopa.com
Airbus A350-900
(Business Class Type of Cabin: Super Diamond, Qsuites) - Same configuration: C36 Y 247
Airbus A350-1000
(Business Class Type of Cabin: Quites) - 2 configuration with same cabin products: C46 Y281 and C24 Y371
Airbus A380-800 with First Class
(Business Class Type of Cabin: Super Diamond) - F8 C48 Y461
Boeing 777-200LR
(Business Class Type of Cabin: QSuites and MiniPods) - C42 Y230 and C42 Y234
Boeing 777-300ER
(Business Class Type of Cabin: QSuites - C24 Y388 and C42 Y312, Minipods - C24 Y388 and C42 Y316, Super Diamond - C37 Y302 Cirrus 2 - F6, C53, Y235)
Boeing 787-8
(Business Class Type of Cabin: Super Diamond - C22 Y232 and Apex - C18 Y249)
Boeing 787-9
(Business Class type of Cabin: Adient Ascent - C30 Y281)
F- First Class
C - Business Class
Y - Economy Class
Do note: Qatar Airways does not offer Premium Economy Class.
Photos of the seats
Qsuites
Aircraft types: Airbus A350-900, A350-1000 (Whole fleet), Boeing 777-200LR and Boeing 777-300ER
About this cabin product
- 36 seats (A350-900), 24 and 46 seats (A350-1000), 42 seats (Boeing 777-200LR) and 24 and 42 seats (Boeing 777-300ER)
- Design based on Collins Aerospace platform
- 1-2-1 seating configuration
- Seat width of 21.5 inches
- Lie flat bed of 79 inches
-21.5 inches of HD Touchscreen Display
- Storage locker is available
- Universal AC and USB-A sockets are available
- Thales System for In-Flight Entertainment
- Starlink WiFi Connection on selected aircraft
A350-900 seat map (36 seats)
A350-1000 seat map (46 seats)
Do note: Row 10 is skipped.
A350-1000 seat map (24 seats)
Boeing 777-200LR seat map (42 seats)
Aircraft code: 77K
Boeing 777-300ER (24 Seats)
Aircraft code: 77N
Boeing 777-300ER (42 Seats)
Aircraft code: 77P
Cabin view (From my flight experience - Airbus A350-900 - This Trip Report)
Super Diamond
Aircraft types: Airbus A350-900, Airbus A380-800, Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 787-8
About this cabin product
- 1-2-1 seating configuration
- 22 seats (Boeing 787-8), 36 seats (Airbus A350-900), 48 seats (Airbus A380-800) and 37 seats (Boeing 777-300ER
- Seat width of 22 inches
- Legroom space of 48 inches
- lie-flat bed of 80 inches
- Secure storage compartment is available
- 17 inches of HD touchscreen display
- Universal AC and USB Type-A sockets are available.
Seat map of the Boeing 787-8 (22 seats) - trip report coming up next
Seat map of the Airbus A350-900 (36 seats)
Seat map of the Boeing 777-300ER (37 Seats)
Photos of the cabin (From my experience - Boeing 787-8)
Apex
Aircraft type: Boeing 787-8
The one and only aircraft with this configuration is leased from Oman Air.
About this cabin product
- 2-2-2 configuration
- 18 Collins Aerospace Apex Suites
- Seat width of 22 inches
- Each seat has direct aisle access
- Privacy screen is available between neighbouring seats.
- 77.5 inches lie-flat bed
- 17 inches HD touchscreen Display
- Universal AC and USB sockets are available
- Wifi connectivity - available
- Thales Avant IFE System
Cabin view (This is Gulf Air's version)
Collin Aerospace Diamond
Aircraft types: Airbus A330-200/-300
The original plan was for the Airbus A330ceo aircraft to be retired by 2022 but due to delivery delays of the newer aircraft, the plan to retire these aircraft was pushed back and for now they are flying mainly on domestic and regional routes. This is the older business class product. How long will these aircraft continue to fly? There is no offical announcement about it but once there is sufficient aircraft, these aircraft was be withdrawn.
About this cabin product
- 24 (A330-200) and 30 (A330-300) Collins Aerospace seats
- Seat width: 21 inches
- Lie-flat bed
- 15.4 Inches HD Touchscreen Display
- Universal AC and USB Type A sockets are available
Airbus A330-200 cabin (24 seats)
Airbus A330-300 cabin (30 seats)
Cabin view (Photo: One Mile At A Time)
Collins Aerospace Minipods
Aircraft types: Boeing 777-200LR and Boeing 777-300ER
This is one of the oldest business product and I got to experience it in 2009. This product would eventually be replaced by the Qsuites product.
About this cabin product
- 2-2-2 seating configuration
- 42 seats on the 777-200LR and 24 and 42 seats on the 777-300ER (2 different configuration)
- Lie-flat beds
- Seat width of 20 inches
- 12 inches of HD Touchscreen display
- USB (Type A) and Universal Charging Ports are available
Seat map of the Boeing 777-200LR (42 seats)
Seat map of the Boeing 777-300ER (24 seats)
Seat map of the Boeing 777-300ER (42 seats)
Cabin view (Boeing 777-300ER)
For my trip report of this cabin product, click here.
Cirrus 2
Aircraft type: Boeing 777-300ER (4 in operation)
Aircraft code: 7D3
Aircraft leased from Cathay Pacific with this airline's old cabin product
About this cabin product
- 1-2-1 seating configuration
- 53 Safran Cirrus 2 seats
- Seat width of 20 inches
- Can be converted into a lie-flat bed
- 16 inches of HD touchscreen display
- Universal AC and USB-A type sockets are available
Seat map of the Boeing 777-300ER (53 seats)
Cabin view of the aircraft (Photo: Miles Point Travel)
(You can check out the trip report over here)
Adient Ascent
Aircraft type: Boeing 787-9
About this cabin product
- 1-2-1 seating configuration
- 30 Adient Aerospace Ascent Platform seats
- Seat width of 21 inches
- Privacy door is available
- 77 inches of lie-flat bed
- Each pair of centre seats have a retractable privacy divider
- 18 inches HD Touchscreen Display with Bluetooth Pairing
- Universal AC, USB A and C type sockets are available
- Charging pads is available at every seat.
Cabin view
Photos: Qatar Airways
For my trip reports of Qatar Airways Business Class, I will be focusing on the Qsuites and Super Diamond products. Hope you find my version of these fabulous business class products useful.
Airline's Website and Mobile App
The website and mobile app user interface is certainly not the best out there. While it has some interesting sections to explore such as the 360 degrees cabin view and the food menu options, I find the mobile app to be quite laggy at times especially trying to open up the seat map or managing the app
For the businss class passengers, you can pre-order your meal and you can do so until 24 hours before the flight departure as the crew needs time to prepare your meal and load it together with the others.
If you can't decide what to eat, you can choose the following from the Chef's recommendation.
While the meal is not as extensive as Singapore Airlines' Book The Cook menu, it offers some of the popular meals with a few of the selection prepared by renowned chefs.
For the starter, I opted for the crew's recommendation - the mushroom soup.
For the main course, I opted for the Lobster Thermidor to compare with Singapore Airlines's version.
As for the light meal selection, I opted for the beef cheeseburger and informed the cabin crew that I like it to be served about 2 hours before landing.
There are a lot of add-on options listed for the airline, I decided to pay for the lounge access (Al Maha Lounge) at Doha Airport, it cost about S$36 for it. Was it worth it? Find out in my upcoming Al Maha Lounge Review, coming up soon.
The hotel was only available on my return flight and for the 3 hours layover, it was certainly not worth booking the room, furthermore it cost a whopping S$483.70, a definite no from my wallet.
Fortunately for me, the day before the web check-in was available, I was able to select my seat without a fee.
At that point of time, I kept checking the seat map to see if I could change my seat to the seat closer to the window.
During the web check-in, no window seats were available so I settled for 8J.
Overall, the airline mobile app was functionable and that's the most important thing but for user-friendliness, it could be better.
On the day of departure
I did a check on which aircraft I was flying on, ahh it was A7-ALY. If I had flown a day later, I would have flown on the A350-900 featuring the OneWorld livery. (A7-ALZ) Well, that's life!
Qatar Airways used to operate at Terminal 3, now they are based in Terminal 1.
You have to take the skytrain over to terminal 1 if you arrive at either terminal 2 or 3.
Our flight has codeshares with other airlines such as British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Kenya Airways and Jetblue.
Welcome to Terminal 1!
Unfortunately there was a bit of queue at the business class check-in counter. There is another counter for Premium members including gold and silver tier and the counter will also serve the business class passengers.
The friendly check-in staff helped me to change my seat to 1A and despite telling me that I was not allowed to access the lounge due to the condition of the business lite fare, it didn't dumpen my mood that I got myself a seat 1A, the front row which is rear facing and that would be a new experience for me.
I received 2 boarding passes and confirmation that I had lounge access at Doha Airport.
The long queues at this side of the entrance to the airside forced me to walk over to the other one and luckily the queue was shorter.
My flight was assigned to gate D34.
I decided to skip having breakfast at the airport to enjoy the inflight meal, the excitment was there! Let's see how good Qatar Airways is especially with their much talked about Qsuites.
There were a lot of shops around at the airside but there isn't any that caught my attention.
Scoot's Airbus A321neo, 9V-NCB
The racoon mask on the cockpit would have look better on this A321neo, do you agree?
Whatever it is, this is a fine looking aircraft in my opinion.
Here is the arrival of my ride, A7-ALY.
I stationed myself at this part of the departure hall to capture its arrival.
Once that is done, I explored a bit more of this terminal before heading over to the gate.
The walk from the main concourse to gate D34 doesn't take long.
Here it is, gate D34.
My ride: A7-ALY started the unloading of cargo and passengers' luggagtes while the passengers were seen walking out from the aerobridge.
These are the lovely Qatar crew that operated my flight. They were all excellent!
The gate area
There are a lot of seats in the individual gate area for terminal 1,2 and 3 but limited charging stations so for those that need to charge their phone, you have to go in early.
I had 3 mobile apps notifying me of my flight, they are Changi Airport App, Qatar's mobile app and Flighty!
Hello there, A7-ALY!
It is nice to be one of the first to board the aircraft.
Turning to the first aerobridge is certainly a nice feeling.
Few more steps to go!
Almost there!
Usually I will be boarding the wide-body aircraft from the other aerobridge.
My ride: A7-ALY
Flight Route: SIN-DOH
Miles: 3,857
Average Flight Time: 7 hours 15 minutes
Airlines flying on this route: Qatar Airways
My seat: 1A (Photo: Aerolopa.com)
Date of departure: 26th November 2025
Airline: Qatar Airways
Flight: QR 943
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Registration: A7-ALY
Seat: 8J changed to 1A (Change took place during the check-in process)
Terminal: 1
Gate: D34
Load: 100% in J Class
Flight Time: 7 hours 25 minutes
Actual Flight Time: 7 hours 20 minutes
Schedule Departure: 1015
Boarding: 0938
Pushed Back: 1007
Take Off: 1028
Schedule Arrival: 1315
Actual Arrival: 1247
Departure Runway: 02C
Departure Weather: Partially Cloudy
Arrival Runway: 34R
Arrival Weather: Partially Cloudy
My flight experience
Boarding process didn't take long to happen after the gate was opened. It was nice to be one of the first to board the aircraft. Once on board, the sight of the Qsuites cabin made my heart beat even faster. I have experiened the business class suite before, just once with Air India's A350-900 (Aeroflot's design actually) and this cabin matches up to it in terms of excitement.
Not long later, a couple of cabin crew came to me and introduced themselves before confirming my order and taking my order of beverages and light snacks. The cabin crew were absolutely top notch through out the flight, they took good care of me and that is the most important thing to me, that is feeling valued by the crew. I managed to take some photos of the cabin while the cabin was still empty at that time, also to avoid getting in the cabin crew's way.
For the cabin configuration, it was my second time to see rear facing seats along with the front facng seats. The first time I saw a similar configuration was on British Airways Boeing 787-8, but the product of that cabin cannot be compare to this. 2-3-2 configuration in a yin-yang configuration is no match for this Qsuites, 1-2-1 cabin configuration. I was really excited especially after managing to change my seat to the rear facing seat at the first row.
During the pre-departure time, I was given a choice of pre-departure welcome drink and I chose the signature Lemon Mint and it was refreshing and delicious. Not long after, a date and a tea (not sure what it is) were served together with a wet towel and that was a good start to the flight.
Take off felt strange to me as I was being pushed back to my seat and when the aircraft lift off, the feeling felt weird but not uncomfortable at all. In fact, it felt normal during the cruising and when there was turbulence, it felt normal, no motion sickness or anything.
Meal services were served with the cabin crew asking us when we like to have our meals, it's nice to be able to have our meal at anytime of the flight as long as its within the time frame. For the seat itself, I find it to be quite comfortable and have no difficulty in changing the mode of the seat. Even when the seat is in a full lie-flat mode, I was able to stretched my legs. There is a secure small locker when the bottle of water and headset are placed inside and there was a small space, small enough to place my small bag consisting of the charging cables.
A couple of issues I face was the adjustable arm rest which is also the storage department, I had difficulty pulling it up so that I can use it an armrest for my left arm but even though the helpful crew showed me once how to do it, I gave up after a few times of attempts. The other issue is the tray table, sometimes it took me a while to pull it out and embarassingly for me, I had to ask the cabin crew to help me pull it out. Whatever it is, I think once I get used to it, I shouldn't have issue. Other than these, I like the seat a lot, I find it to be comfortable as I was able to sleep for a few hours after the first meal service.
I woke up later and manage to catch some movies and enjoy a light snack service which the crew remembered. For the rest of the flight, it was just as pleasant and overall this flight experience has to be one of my highlights in all my years of flying, I could not have asked for more. The 7 hours 20 minutes flight time went past too fast for my liking, I could certainly do ultra long haul flights with this cabin product as I have been blown away with the high quality of details from both the service and the seat comfort.
As for the landing, we landed ahead of schedule. The feeling of descending felt weird as it felt like being on a roller coaster and it was being rolled back at a slower rate of descending but I had no issue with it so will I choose a rear facing seat, the answer is yes.
This is certainly an enjoyable flight, Qsuite cabin product is certainly top notch and the experience makes it even better with this set of great crew and they get top scores for their professionalism. I was fortunate to be able to have a conversation with one of them including their thoughts about the aircraft types and the future of the airline, I learnt something new.
Economy Class
These photos were taken from my previous Qatar Airways trip report, you can find out more about this cabin product over here.
Business Class (QSuites) (This Trip Report)
The cabin view of the Qsuites
Do you notice a white amenity kit? That means a female passenger is sitting there.
This is my seat 1A, one of the rear facing seats. All the odd numbers are in fact rear facing seats. (row 1,3,5,7 and 9)
I prefer this seat closer to the window which allows slightly more privacy even if the sliding door is left opened.
Can you tell whether this view is facing the rear or front of the aircraft?
There is a privacy divider in the middle seats which can be adjusted.
For these seats, it is more situable for couples as the privacy divider can be removed and when the seats are converted into lie-flat bed mode, they can enjoy each other's company.
These sets of couple seats can be converted into a mini conference zone for 4 parties since they are facing each other.
For solo travellers like myself, it is better to take the seats closer to the window side, whether it is rear facing or front facing seats, they are better for us.
This is the front facing seat (seat 2B).
The even number seats are located next to the aisle. (row 2,4,6 and 8)
The view from my seat
My seat mate across the aisle will be able to see what programmes I am watching on the TV screen when the sliding door is opened.
Seatbelt signs are available for both the front and rear facing passengers.
At certain sitting position, you can see your seat mates but it not an issue since the sliding door would be close for most parts of the flight.
This is the second cabin (row 7 to 9).
The mood light of the cabin enhances the comfort level.
Privacy divider for strangers can be used to ensure maximum privacy for both parties. So if middle seats are only available for solo travellers, choose the front facing seats.
This is the working space for the crew located between the first and second cabin of the business class.
A cabin view assisting a fellow business class passenger.
The cabin view of the Qsuites (front facing view)
This is the view of the front of the cabin from my seat.
More photos of my seat
I am certainly a fan of the sliding door as it enhances the privacy level for this kind of configuration. There are some that find this overrated, I disagree. If you don't like this, that is fine but there is nothing overrated about the sliding door. I am a fan of it and will use it if it is available.
The view of my mini cabin during mid-flight.
The view of my cabin before departure
Safety card and Qsuits instruction card are stored just below the scan bar code for credit cards.
The table above the control console panel was big enough for me to place some of my personal items on it.
This seat is certainly comfortable and wide enough for me.
The bag you see below is where the mini storage space is.
There are 2 reading lamps, this one is located next to you while the other is located at the overhead panel.
The view of my suite
The mini storage departure consists of my personal bag, a bottle of water, a disposal bag and the headphones provided by the airline.
You can connect to the entertainment system either by using your phone (bluetooth connection) or this remote control (shown below).
The universal and the earphone sockets were placed in a convenient location.
A welcome pre-departure drink and a towel were served. I opted for the famous Lemon Mint drink, a must try if you are flying with this airline. (Only available in business class)
The control panel of my seat
The colour combination of the interior of the suite is eye pleasing to me.
The reading light can be adjusted in different brightness and direction (either pointing at your direction or in front of you)
This is the front view of the cabin with my seat facing the opposite direction.
There is a couple of short cut buttons which one can use after the seat is converted into a lie-flat bed position.
Another look of the seat
The retractable foldable tray table
The tray-table when fully unfold is sufficient in size to do one's work with a laptop accompanied with a beverage and a bowl of snacks preferably placed on the table space above the control panel.
I had 2 windows for myself.
Window view and a large HD screen, what more can I ask? Not to mention the Starlink Wifi was available from the moment I stepped on the aircraft.
The control panel for the seat
Camera view is available on this aircraft.
The window shade is controlled automatically with a touch of a button. (notice the arrows above the window)
That's me enjoying the flight. Is this space cramp? Mayhe to some but for me, I like how it is, small but cozy and more importantly comfortable.
I was able to enjoy the movie with my legs stretched out. (No issue for a 6 foot 4 person). Some may complain about the cabin noise especially from the work space in front of the aircraft, but there is no noise issue for me as I had my headphone on for most parts of the flight.
I used the remote control to control the touchscreen display but if only the screen on the remote control can be rotated to make it easier for us to make changes without the need to pulling it out.
There is a usb and the universal socket which I used to charge my phone and the charging speed is fast.
View from my seat
It was very comfortable and even though I was facing the rear, I hardly feel any difference during the cruising part.
The overhead panel above me consists of 2 sets of seat belt sign displays for both the front and rear facing passengers with air con vents and the speaker.
The lamp light can be adjusted to the direction of the IFE Screen.
At this point, I was ready to receive my snack meal.
Although the sliding door is closed, the cabin crew still come around from time to time to make sure you are comfortable.
Can you spot the winglet?
From this position, with the camera view, you enjoy this and the outside view.
At this point, we have landed and waiting for the doors to open. I was in no hurry to go anywhere.
What's provided for each passenger?
Blanket
The blanket is comfortable.
The big pillow
The smaller pillow
Amenity Kit and a pre-departure drink (Lemon Mint)
Oryx one's headphone
This noise cancelling headphone is effective and the sound quality is not bad at all.
The remote control
There are 2 types of amenitiy kits, white and black. This is the amenity kit for the male while the other colour is for the female.
The amenity kit contains a natural spray, a pair of socks, a packet of body products such as fresh lotion for body, face cream and lip balm. These products are produced by Diptyque from Paris.
This is the refreshing wet towel
Business Class menu (Beverages)
Business Class menu (Food)
What's for lunch and snack?
All Day Dining means you can order the meal anytime during the flight but do note that the inflight kitchen will close before the preparation for the arrival so remember to book your meals directly with the crew early.
For the light meal, I opted for the beef cheeseburger.
If you can't decide what to eat, you can choose the meals prepared by this renowned chef.
The beverage menu consists of alcoholic options.
The safety card
The Qsuite safety instruction
Premium Date provided by the airline - it is delicious.
Does anyone know what tea is this? Please leave a comment below if you do, thanks!
The start of the meal service, we were given a choice of chips or mixed nuts with our pre-ordered drink (our drink order was taken before departure).
This is how the table is set.
We have the condiments which comes long with the different types of bread: Cranberry Flaxseed, Rheingau roll and Rustin roll.
This is the scallop prepared in a very unique sauce (I have no idea what it is) and it is delicious.
This is the cream of mushroom soup.
I opted for the Lobster Thermidor with lemon - fondant potatoes, grilled asparagus, cherry tomatoes and yellow squash.
This version is certainly better than the one I had on my SQ Business Class flight.
Enjoying my meal while watching a movie at 40,000 feet.
After the meal service was done, I opted for a cup of cuppuccino.
For dessert, I had the Smoked coconut panna cotta - pineapple juice, pandan cream, almod crumble and mango sorbet.
Later on after the dessert was done, I was given a selection of chocolate to choose and the nice crew encouraged me to take more, so I took a couple.
For the light meal service, I choose the beef cheeseburger which comes with some salad. Luckily the portion was small as I was still feeling full from the delicious lunch.
For the beverage, I opted for the Pineapple Margarita.
A small packet of date was given to us just before we started our descent.
A packet of towel was given as well.
Inflight entertainment
Although the selection of movies is limited compared to the likes of Emirates and Singapore Airlines, I had the movies I wanted to watch listed in this system.
The user interface of the system is top notch.
The 3D Maps on this system is powered by Geofusion.
I definitely enjoyed the flight.
For the inflight map, thanks to the Starlink Wifi, I used the Flightradar24 to monitor our flight progress.
The selection of programmes are available for both kids and adults.
During the take off and landing, I opted for the camera view.
Since I was sitting facing the rear, the camera view comes in very handy.
We arrived at the threshold of runway 02C.
Off we go!
We lifted off after passing the V1 mark.
I was able to enjoy the view of the nearby islands.
What more can I ask for?
This is the remote control, I decided to save my phone battery by using this and once I undertand how it works, it was easy to use.
The first movie I watched is Jurassic World: Rebirth.
It's nice to watch Scarlett Johanssen in action, she is a brilliant actress.
Oryx One - Qatar's entertainment system
Red One was the next movie I watched.
From months of missing out of movies at the cinemas, I was able to catch some of them on this flight. Glad I have waited!
This remote control also allows me to do some functions like calling the flight attendent and turning on and off the reading light located at the overhead panel.
In the darkness of the cabin, if the person sitting in front opens the window shade, this is how it looks like.
Another small packet of date was given to us.
A video of the arrival into Doha was played.
I am glad to have tried out this Qsuites.
My favourite part of the exterior camera view is watching the aircraft land.
As shown on the screen, we landed on runway 34L.
Landing was smooth.
For this flight, I remember we had some turbulence especially after flying out of Malaysian Peninsula and some bumps across the Bay of Bengal but for most parts of the flight, the ride was smooth.
Our taxi to the gate took about 8 minutes.
We reached out gate. For me, I had about 3 hours to hang around at the airport and this aircraft's next destination was to New York JFK airport, departing around the same time as my next flight.
A last look at this aircraft's IFE screen.
Inflight WiFi
This is the Starlink Wifi and the connection speed is impressive. I was able to use the wifi from the start of the flight to till time I departed from the aircraft. No need to log in to connect to the wifi, once you click on the wifi's network, the internet world is yours.
Just took off as we climbed to our assigned flight level.
At this point, we had a bit of turbulence.
The ride happened too fast for my liking as we were closing into Doha.
Almost there.
This lavatory located in front of my seat is pretty spacious and has a window in it.
The lavatory condition was kept clean by the crew.
Basic amenities were provided.
The door latch
This lavatory window uses the conventional window shade.
Lavatory with a view!
Window view photos (Take off to Landing)
We managed to push back early, thanks to everyone boarding the aircraft on time.
This is how front I am on this aircraft.
We pushed back and headed towards runway 02C for departure.
We took about 19 minutes to reach the runway.
A Cathay Pacific A330-300 was on route to its home base, Hong Kong.
Here we are, we turned into the active runway.
This is how it looks like when we started accelerating down the runway.
See you in a month's time, Singapore!
Off we go, we departed in good weather.
The question that I have in mind, does Singapore really need 5 terminals? What do you think?
Hardly any bumps while we were climbing.
The feeling of facing the the rear during the take off was little bit strange but no issue at all for me.
It was nice that the weather was fine that day as the past few days, there were thunderstorms around Singapore.
Many hours later, I had a peek outside and the weather was fine.
At this point, we started our descent.
We were on final approach as our aircraft was prepared for landing.
This was my 2nd time at this airport.
We had quite a bit of taxi to do.
This is Qatar's Airbus A330-300 and it was having its engines checked.
Here we are, we reached our gate. I didn't mind the extra minutes at all especially when I was a having a great flight.
Welcome to Hamad International Airport (Doha)!
I made my way to the security checkpoint to connect to the airside.
Thanks for the ride, A7-ALY!
One last look at this beautiful aircraft.
Security check took less than 5 minutes before given the clearance to go.
I started looking for direction to the Al Maha Lounge and the review of this lounge will be coming up next.
To be continued in my part 2!
(Part 2: Flying Qatar's non QSuite J Class on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to Frankfurt, coming up soon!)
My ratings
Airline Website/Mobile App: 3/5
Check-in Experience (SIN): 5/5
Inflight Service: 5/5
Seat Comfort: 5/5
Inflight Entertainment: 5/5
Cabin Ambiance: 5/5
Seat Condition: 5/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
InFlight Meal/Beverage: 5/5
Punctuality: 5/5
Overall Rating: 48/50
Percentage: 96%
Conclusion
What a great way to start off my trip 2 day before my birthday! Qatar Airways has won numerous awards such as being the best airline in the world and others such as having the best business class products and I can see why. After experiencing both the economy class and the most popular business class product, I understand why this airline is so highly regarded in the aviation world. Just in case anyone is wondering, I am not sponsored by the airline to do this review, in fact no one on board these flights know who I am and I am able to experience the true service without any form of special treatment.
Qsuite product is very popular among the frequent travellers and because this airline has many different configuration on the aircraft fleet means there is always possibility of the aircraft change from this product to the other. When the original scheduled aircraft is swopped to another with different J class product such as from the Qsuite to the any other type of business class product, we call this a "Qatar-ed". For example: Ohh no, I have been "Qatar-ed", we will know that this person has lost his Qsuite class and now is flying on a different business class product. It depends on the aircraft type as some aircraft model offer the older product which includes the dreaded 2-2-2 configuration and this all depends on the routes and demand, the airline prioritise the Qsuites on certain routes so if the original scheduled aircraft to this certain route goes technical, the ops room will likely take the aircraft with Qsuites on a lesser priority route and swop with an aircraft with another business class product depends on the demand on both ways. This sort of change may disappoint some of the travellers out there but for the ops room, they are just doing their job. At least the airline offers a complimentary change if the scheduled aircraft with Qsuites is swop with another aircraft with an older business class product.
Eventually once the new aircraft from Boeing enters the fleet and this includes the much delayed Boeing 777-9, things will improve as the older aircraft with the non Qsuites product will likely to be retired, being replaced by the new aircraft featuring the Qsuites 2.0. Thet Qsuites 2.0 has been launched by the airline in July 2024 and the Boeing 777-9 is supposed to be the first aircraft to feature this new product but now with the further delay to the aircraft's delivery due to the certification issues, we would likely see this new cabin product, the earliest by 2027. This is subjected to changes.
As you can see from my ratings, it is close to perfection. Eveything on the flight went well and I can't asked for more especially with the lovely set of crew, delicious food and the comfortable Qsuites that leaves me very satisfied by the end of the flight, I can't wait to experience myself the 2.0 version of this product.
Is the Super Diamond product as good if not better than the Qsuites? Stay tuned to find out more in the next part and I will do a summary on my J class experience to wrap things up.
Thanks for reading and have a good one!
Charles
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