Flight Review - Qatar Airways BUSINESS CLASS Doha to London Gatwick
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- Hello from Doha! After my 22 hour marathon flight in from Los Angeles, I had around 4 hours in Doha before continuing on to London Gatwick. That flight would be with a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner in their second tier business class product. Not a Qsuite, but a very good business class product nevertheless. And a very good experience it was too...
⭐ #flightreview #qatarairways #MattsPlanet ⭐
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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:45 - Doha airport and the lounges
6:23 - Boarding
7:18 - The seat
10:32 - The service
13:40 - Landing
15:07 - Conclusions
I truly think more people should subscribe to his channel. I like the natural way he presents . More importantly, I encourage to continue uploading your great videos and I look forward to the next one!!!
I couldn't agree more! Come on people!!!!!! Every Sunday, 3pm UK time...
I love the levels of information and clear presentation.
I flew this same flight and class in october both ways. Very pleasant. Staff were great.
Good to hear!
Great video. I’ve flown on this Qatar business class before, and I really liked it. It’s still way ahead of other airlines.
Thanks Colin. But what did you think of the bear??? Cute or scary???
@@MattsPlanet very odd, and a bit scary. I know it cost a fortune, and provides a good point of navigation at the airport…..it’s distinctive, it’s talked about, but it’s bloody odd!
I absolutely LOVE how you use Avio as a singular Avios. I thought I was the only person who does that!
I got a real ticking off in an earlier video from someone who was personally insulted by my pronunciation! Its a made up word in the first place!!
Thanks for your video, great content.Im flying Qatar business for the first time shortly, and got great tips. Keep up the good work.
Thanks - have a great trip!
Great video! Definitely a product I would like to experience sometime. Thanks for the info + video!
Thanks! The 787 is a good offering even if it's not quite as good as the qsuite
Great video, love sitting back having a beer or 6 😎 and watching your informative videos. Kind regards from Australia
G'day Jason! High probability of making a trip on Qatar to Aus next year...
Great trip report
Thanks!
Excellent review👍
Thanks - on Qatar again next week so another review will be along soon
New upload. Yes yes!
3pm UK time every Sunday!
Thanks for sharing much love from Sharon watching from Saudia Arabia Riyadh
Hello Riyadh! Planning to visit Saudi next year... When its a little cooler....
You're welcome
Another honest and good review Matt👍. That Teddy is just weird, the "lamp" is just too low. Look like an old school interrogation situation😂😂. Personally I prefer open seating like this, find the suites a little claustrophobic. To be honest flying longitudanaly most of the time and 10 hours direct 12 to 14 with a stop in the Middle East business class really is not worth the price IF YOU PAY FULL CASH PRICE from your own pocket. Obvious yes if you have the miles to apply. I fortunately have 2 premuum credit cards that gets me into a lounge almost anywhere all mist all of them really goid for showers, a drink, a bite to eat and just less noise than the public areas😁. Please keep the videos coming always fun on a late and lazy Sunday👍🇿🇦
Cheers Peet.... Stopping in the middle east greatly lengthens flights to Southern Africa (and the Far East) so it needs to be a much better experience to merit the extra time.... The videos will keep coming for a while yet! Thanks for the support
PROFESSIONAL JOB 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
👍
Great video !! From italy 👍
Thanks for watching!
Very helpful review Matt, as we've just arrived back from Montreal in the very poor BA legacy business class seat, I'd take even a non Q suite business seat every time....
It's not a difficult choice is it???
I'm 100% behind the notion that the giant teddy bear is at the "terrifying" end of the scale - like something out of a child's nightmare! Good to see round the lounge, but I was quite surprised at the limited food options at the sit down lounge - do you think this was as a result of them using the lounge for QR and Oneworld passengers at that time (although, conversely, you would think they would put on MORE options if dealing with higher numbers of pax)? Be interesting to see what (if any) differences there are when i'm passing through in March - and will stick my head in to have a look at the OneWorld specific lounges if time (and abject exhaustion) permits. Have to say that their seat on the 789 still looks very nice (agree it's not quite up to Q-Suite levels) and a pleasant way to spend several hours (would prefer this to BA's older yin-yang seats, for example). Another enjoyable video 🙂!
Cheers Craig. The lounge food perplexed me... I'd seen a recent Paul Lucas video where he was there at breakfast and the offering was positively lavish! 10pm is way to early to have switched from dinner to an overnight offering, particularly as so many flights leave between midnight and 2am... I can only think they'd dumbed down the offering to save money as there were so many people eligible to visit... March feels like its a hundred years away so who knows what will be going on by then? Looking at a Qatar economy trip to a) go somewhere nice but b) see those lounges but even economy on Qatar is pretty pricey when I'm looking to go...
@@MattsPlanet i think everything is expensive at the moment - although I am looking at an economy trip to Toronto for about £260 ex-dub with BA for November if I can swing it. Planning to return via ORD on the a380 - leaving from the UK was up around 650-700 quid 😱
Agreed. That poor teddy bear looks like it’s being given the lamp in the eyes treatment in an overnight interrogation session somewhere well south of Suez.
Matt you fairly got into Quatar in this video very good by the way.
We flew Qatar Edinburgh-Doha- kuala Lumpur in the 2 2 2 configuration and really enjoyed the flight but as you say it was hard to find you way to the lounge in Doha and found it very good but busy.
On way back it was Perth WA in the 380 which was excellent and it had the nice bar at the back where we spent a nice quite hour, but on that flight the staff were a bit off putting not very pleasant but slept most of way.
Cheers Peter... Qatar promises a lot and often delivers but can miss the mark - your staff experience mirrors mine... The bar on the A380 is quite fun! Better than Virgin's...
Excellent quality service ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
👍
Good luck 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
👍
I'm not sure you realise that the bar area also has an ala carte restaurant. Along with the buffet you can order burgers, sushi and a whole lot of things. This is in addition to the bottom restaurant you went to. That ala carte restaurant is sit down and that's the waiting they were controlling access to. You never have to wait more than 5 mins and the menu is on QR code at the table. You can also order amazing cocktails. I'd say some poor exploring there on your part but you just did get off a long flight. Next time hit the ala carte restaurant on the bar level first
Thanks for that - I was a little frazzled... I'd been to the Al Mourjan a few times before the you-know-what and the buffet was all there was on the Mezzanine... All a bit strange this visit but if there was a sit-down option, Qatar did a very poor job of advertising it!
@@MattsPlanet the lounge for business class passengers is pretty good at Doha. I had tons of sushi, cocktails and biryani and stuff.
The buffet upstairs is really good too. The only time I go down us for breakfast as the downstairs do great sandwiches
Hi Matt,
We spoke earlier about the experience just not being magical anymore. The shiny service is gone, a lot more distant service with limited food and beverage! You mentioned you did not fly them in a while....
Glad you saw the same points that I mentioned to you in that text!
Great video
Safe travels
Thanks Thomas. LAX to DOH was pretty good - but the experience from Doha onwards was just flat... Impossible to tell now whether that's pandemic related, or cost saving driven!
@@MattsPlanet Cost Saving. Basically like a middle class restaurants with more people, more problems.
@@LINJ638 If they let you sleep in the restaurant...
thks Matt, will look at for SYD. Tony
Good luck!
Hoping to see a latest review of London to Manila Business Class Return flight please.
Any particular airline? I think Philippine air has resumed direct service, only 1 day a week though...
@@MattsPlanet Thank you for replying......Flown with PAL before London to MNL Return on Business Class when I was still base there in London.....also flown with Emirates on the same class and route....please, need a latest review on the same route and class so I can choose that Airline when I go back to London for a holiday soon hehe
I have flown this product between Doha to Islamabad as part of my overall journey from London to Islamabad. So I have to agree this product is not as good as the Q suite but it is miles head of any other business class.
Thanks - I agree that its a really good product that would benchmark well - particularly on a relatively short flight like Islamabad.... It doesn't get the publicity because the QSuite dominates...
Qatar Airways is fine ❤❤❤❤❤
👍
I prefer arriving in to Gatwick than Heathrow. I do find it unfortunate that many airlines don't offer their premium services to Gatwick.
The problem is that they then have to continue that premium service to an outbound flight back, and "Gatwick" and "premium" don't always sit comfortably together...
Intresting, I found emirates business lounge in dubai to be pretty good, I heard quatar was better, perhaps not.
The Emirates lounge (visited once!!!) is large, quite airy and has direct access to most gates??? Qatar's is darker, arguably more stylish, but is a hike from some of the far gates. I remember the food and drink in Doha being much better than it was on this visit so Emirates is probably winning on that front too, now at least.
Superb 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
You really enjoyed this one!!!!
Yes I have to say that the Teddy bear is definitely at the terrifying end of the scale. Usually, CZcamsrs rave about the Al Mourjan and perhaps you were just unlucky, but it just goes to show that even Qatar slips up sometimes.
Cheers Les. You're right about people seeming to love the al Mourjan - it is an impressive space but I never really loved it when I went through before the pandemic. Its just a bit soulless... Add a meagre f&b offering and its well off the pace...
Thanks Matt. Do you see much difference with taxes and fees, between LHR and Gatwick?
That's a really good question. I had a look and as I was inbound to LGW there were no UK taxes in the fare. Also zero inbound for LHR. Outbound (business class to Doha) LHR charges £56 and LGW £17 and both charge Air Passenger Duty of £185....
Great video Matt. Looks a very solid business class product (assume the food is due to come out of you know what). I'm flying Qatar Business (Q suites I think) for the first time in about 3 weeks time. Looking forward to see how it compares with Etihad (which I've done extensively) and Emirates - both of which are superb. Looking forward to the massive lounge and the scary yellow bear.
Do you know if, as BA Silver, one can choose Qatar business seats for free?
I believe silver status would allow seat booking on Qatar. Might have to go through their site with the booking ref.
@@MattsPlanet I've fixed it! I changed my Qatar booking to refer to my BA Exec number rather than Qatar membership number and it gave me seat choice for free. Seems a bit odd as I had already linked up my BA and Qatar memberships.
Interesting experience of QR today. I booked the BRU-DOH-HKG-KIX a month ago via travel agency. Today I recieved an email that BRU-DOH-HKG is resceduled to day 3 while the HKG-KIX is still in day 2. So the flight becomes, day 2 HKG-KIX and day 3 BRU-DOH-HKG, which is impossible to travel. Quickly call qatar to rebook but there is no option so I led my travel agency to do the fight and finally rebook by changing from BRU to LHR, which I need to cancel the BRU meeting. As a BA gold, I wonder why I am the one to be rescheduled instead of others? may be I book via agency or maybe the ticket I paid is not expensive enough?
Hi Ryan. What I think happens when a flight is cancelled is that the direct rebooking is made and communicated. Then the next overnight run of processes finds any knock on connections which don't now work, and they then get corrected the following day. So if you get a cancellation like this, and its not within a few days of travel, its best to let things run for another day to see what the systems kick out as the correction of the consequences... That's certainly what happens on BA and although they get singled out for criticism for their appalling IT, I think other airlines' systems aren't much better. Doubt status had anything to do with it.
Nice post, Matt. I've always wanted to try out Business (and potentially First) on Qatar and have been waiting for good cash booking deals. Sadly, Qatar hasn't posted any worthwhile deals since COVID started. Perhaps later in the year.
Alternatively, I'll have to try book using avios like you did. Bit more of a hassle on searching for Qatar flights though. :(
Keep up the good posts. :D
Thanks. You could reliably find fares out of Oslo or Stockholm for little over £1k before the you-know-what, but I've not seen that price level since...
@@MattsPlanet aye. I had Singapore booked from Oslo (stop in Doha) for just 1300 for Mar 2020. Been checking since and no joy. I'm sure they'll start a sale soon when the summer rush calms down. Some airlines have already started some pretty good deals - Qatar may follow suit.
@@Delbino2000 It would make sense... I have the feeling that they're a bit nervous about fuel costs, although they have been coming back down in the last week or two...
I take it you can keep the pygamas and they are not recycled or some other eco excuse...
You are free to take the jim-jams as souvenirs - I do and I then wear them at home. In winter - bit warm to sleep in them in Summer! Not sure what happens to them if they are left on the plane - hopefully something environmentally friendly!
Fantastic thanks for the email 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
👍
Yeah, I flew in this business class seat. I don't have time for all the electronic gadgets and buttons: too stressful. The screen entertainment options are poor (nothing like Emirates). I watched the same movies flying to KTM as the return to DOH: a movie about horses, and the movie with Sally Ann Howes. Nothing else was interesting. Plenty of good food and champagne and attentive flight staff. At 6'3" the seat was comfortable, and I was able to manage a slight recline and my feet in the tiny cubby. (Who can sleep in these seats, knowing how many thousands of dollars out of pocket you're spending? I only can manage a ten-minute champagne-induced nap!)
Your sleep strategy is one followed by many... On this occasion I had to drive the other end of the flight so the all night champagne-a-thon wasn't an option!
I much prefer the Jewel at SIN to the teddy at DOH. The teddy just makes me wonder what they were thinking. I think that bear is getting a little long in the tooth. At any rate - I find even with less privacy than some competitors, the QR 787 seats are more than adequate to the task. A shame about the catering, though.
Cheers. Saw the Jewel before the pandemic. Did I see that you can get to it from the airport and remain airside? That's a cool feature if its possible... I quite like that Qatar 787 seat...
Is it possible to buy avios for cash?
Yes! You can buy up to 200,000 a year for £3,215, which is 1.61p per avios - ie twice what they are worth at Sainsbury's if you buy them all at once. So 50,000 avios costs £815 (1.63p each) which is enough for the DOH - LGW redemption and is a lot cheaper than buying the fare for cash... There are sometimes promotions where the cost per avios improves - usually when BA needs some cash - but I've not seen one for a while. Cheers!
you gota tell= like it iz AYE=MR MATT'S=xox
One tries!
I genuinely think British Airways Club Suite is a better experience
Thanks Ameer. Had a trip in a club suite booked for this week but I had to cancel it annoyingly so I've still not flown it... Looking to squeak a trip in before Christmas as I'd really love to have the experience so I can make the comparison video!
@@MattsPlanet Ah man, can’t wait to see a video like that!
I experienced no gin in the … wait for it … BA lounge in Philadelphia in May. As cultural crimes go, that’s up there with no tea in China. I’ve always found the al Mourjan lounge to have everything you need and then some (back in Qatar Airway pax only days) but weirdly soulless. A bit like Qatar Airways in general in fact. You’re right about no banter on Qatar - I’ve experienced far worse seats and catering but more engaging staff who knew how to communicate and have a laugh on BA with some of the outrageous old queens who used to work there and even AA where one senior LAX crew member called me and other select passengers ‘honey’ all the way to Heathrow. Proper old school, she was … a bit like Pam Ann’s ‘Valerie’.
Thanks Derek! I used to live in Australia where (and when) gin was a bit of a novelty but a major lounge like Doha? Unacceptable... You can see in the video that they'd not even tried to stage the remaining bottles in a way that filled in the gaps! People tend to love the Al Mourjan but I think you put it better than I did in describing it as soulless...
@@MattsPlanet yet now Qantas have that fabulous gin bar in their Heathrow lounge! Times change eh?
Youre not wrong. Oddly enough, some of the best service I have ever seen on an airline was on AA (and yes, an older and experienced crew). Pity it isnt the norm for them. I remember the al Mourjan when it was QR only. I always remember it as being beautiful but cold (as in lifeless). I think your description as souless is more apt. I've also flown BA a few times where the kit was forgettable but the staff made the journey. I do wonder how much routing and 'typical clientel' affect western airlines crew standards.
But no gin, at a premium lounge like al Mourjan...that needs attending to. Perhaps it will be better when the new One World lounges open.
@@rtb5365 a friend once reported flying BA into Tehran where the crew did a last urgent booze run, rattling the trolly and urging passengers to fill their boots while they still could. 😂
🎉✈️🙂
Booked another Qatar flight yesterday actually!
@@MattsPlanet how far ahead do you book the flight? Yellow Productions says 6-12 weeks do you agree??
@@MattsPlanet for cheapest price
@@George-ps5 That's a really good question... I am trying to book later - within a month of travel - so I can react to what's happening and keep videos relevant... But I care less about the destination provided I'm on an interesting plane/airline... So I can find cheap prices last minute as I don't care so much where I go. If you have a specific place in mind I think its generally the earlier the better....
@@MattsPlanet ohh I look forward to your future videos. Maybe you go to Copenhagen again? Maybe we go together
Been to Doha Airport twice, I can't stand the bloody place , long walks , busy and stressful
Afternoon MTD! If you get unlucky with the gates, you would be pleased to have worn your walking boots! I left from A1 which is about as close to the lounge as you can get so I lucked out this time.... I've been to worse airports - Miami anyone?
How did you get this flight at £264? When I search one way fares, it was more than $4000 SGD (equates to around £2000). Did you make a redemption instead of paying revenue?
I think I explain in the video that this was a redemption - 90,000 avios from lax-doh-lhr. Plus perhaps £200 in taxes and fees. You can buy avios for 1p each so that's £1,100 or so... spread that between the two flights based on distance and this flight cost £264
@@MattsPlanetso I buy 90,000 Avios for £900 plus the taxes. How does this equate to £264.00?
@@stevena9305 90k avios (plus some taxes) got me LAX-DOH-LGW. If you apportion the full cost between these two legs based on miles flown, this one cost £246. Simples!
@@MattsPlanet thanks Matt -do you not place any value on the points (perhaps not if you got them free)? I appreciate the only cash was for the taxes.
@@stevena9305 I'm actually working on a video where I'll attempt to cost the avios I gathered in 2023 - cost of acquisition will come in at well under 1p each
I see your excuses for the haram drink is all good ones but great video
Thanks! I think...
LMAO@terrying teddy bear,.
Its.... Behind..... Me!!!!!!
I think you video quality is alright but your thumbnail can improved a lot :-_:
Thanks - I don't disagree actually! What do you recommend?
@@MattsPlanet instead of always putting blue background try put aircraft photo or seat photo.
@@AS-br8si I quite like the background as it makes my thumbnails stand out and makes them recognisable... But I have no scientific support for that view so your opinion is just as valid!
No gin.
Only sandwiches.
Very poor.
Indeed... First world problems, but problems nevertheless!