Welcome to another report! This report will cover flight QR170 from Stockholm to Doha. This report will also include flight QR634 (DOH-DAC), you'll see why later.
Background:
There is one simple reason why we flew to Bangladesh, our cousin would get married in Dhaka and many relatives including us would visit Bangladesh just to attend her wedding. Actually we would attend two weddings as one of my sister's friends would also get married in Dhaka at the same time, a coincidence I guess. There were three options for us, QR, EK or TK (the other options were too expensive). TK went away as an option as none of us would never fly with them again after several horrible experiences. We had previously flown to DAC and DXB with TK but those flights were not spectacular in any way. Anyways, we wanted to fly with EK but there was a problem. EK had really competitive prices just a few days prior to our departure date but my mom couldn't manage to get her vacation a few days earlier. Therefore, we had to fly with QR and that's what we did. I wasn't very excited about these flights as I like to try out new airlines but I was a bit curious tp try out the 788, especially after reading some reviews of the 9-abreast layout in Y that can be cramped. My oldest sister went to DAC (via DXB) with EK a few days prior to our departure date.
This would be my 4th trip to Bangladesh.
1. ARN-LHR-DAC and return, 2003 (SK and BA). 2. ARN-FRA-DOH-DAC and return, 2007 (SK and QR) 3. ARN-IST-KHI-DAC and return, 2011/2012 (TK) 4. ARN-DOH-DAC and return, 2014 (QR)
NOTE: This FR will lack a lot of pictures, I didn't even know flight-report existed at this time. Most or if not all of the photos were taken for fun. This series has been cancelled due to a lack of pictures.
We arrived at T5 of Stockholm-Arlanda exactly 2 hours and 1 minute before our scheduled time of departure. Me, my dad, mom, sister and a few cousins were on the same flight, headed to DAC. There were actually about 10-12 other bengalis on the check-in line. In total, about 20 bengalis were headed for DAC on this QR flight. Our family had checked-in online the night before so there was no long queue for us. We had six pieces of luggage.
Security was smooth as usual, I did a little bit of spotting after clearing security. Note that these shots are not of high-quality, as I didn't have a DSLR at this time.
Air Serbia A320 getting ready for a flight to Belgrade.
SAS 736.
The usual boring SAS 737s at ARN.
Thai Airways 77W getting some fresh scandinavian air after a flight from Bangkok.
SK 736 pushback.
Swiss A321 taxiing to runway 08 for a flight to Zürich
Off to Minsk.
Destination - Geneva
SAS A333 heading out to Newark.
And here's my ride to Doha, A7-BCF. A 787 delivered in July, 2013. This bird was basically 1 year old when I flew with it.
Not the most spotter-friendly windows.
Eventually it was time for boarding. The flight was not full, maybe about 180 pax. My sister and our cousins were eating somewhere so we had to wait for our sister as we had her BP. This resulted in us being one of the last passengers to board the aircraft. Boarding was done on-time and efficiently as expected.
As many probably know, you can change the window tint on the 787 windows. There were about 5 options if I remember correctly.
First impressions of the Dreamliner were mixed. The atmosphere was really nice in the cabin because of the mood lighting that I really liked. However, the cabin felt fairly cramped in a 9-abreast config, even though I'm a very slim person. I don't have a shot of the legroom but it was decent for me on this flight. It wasn't great though. Do note that I was just 172cm tall at this time, I'm 177-178 now and it might have been worse for me if I flew on it now. I'm going to fly on a QR 788 again this summer, I guess I'll have to see how it feels then.
One last shot of the TG 77W.
Departing Arlanda runway 08. Sorry for the bad quality, as I said before, I had a really crappy camera at this time.
Thanks to my friend who tracked my flight!
We departed 14 minutes late as you can see. We did not manage to make up much time in the air.
The IFE! This PTV was great. There was a lot of content, quite a few bollywood movies (not surprised, they fly to so many destinations in the subcontinent, there are also many Indians, Pakistanis and Bengalis in Qatar) which was good for my family. There was also a decent selection of Indian songs, again great for my family (not exactly for me). However, I wish they had more english albums in their selection. The screen was quite good in terms of quality and brightness. The responsiveness wasn't the best but I have never experienced a PTV with great response. The device below the screen was quite cool. I used it to watch the moving map while I watched a movie or did something else. There was one negative thing about it though, it overheated only after a few minutes of use.
Can't wait to fly on their A359 and A388 this summer, I'm booked on ARN-DOH-BKK & SIN-DOH-ARN.
They served a small bag of snacks with tomato tapenade exactly 38 minutes after departure. They also served refreshing towels afterwards.
This wingflex is just astonishing!
Most of this flight was spent just listening to music and looking out of the window. There is a bad thing about 3-3-3 layouts, I always like to have window seats and it's a bad experience when you have to visit the lavatory. I had to climb over two persons to get to the aisle, I'm lucky it was my mom and sister though.
The meal service! There were two options for this lunch service, chicken or beef. I went with the chicken option, a glass of OJ accompanied the meal as always. The meal consisted of chicken breast with potatoes and beans, mineral water, bread, a bean mix and a dessert. The chicken was really great and juicy. The potatoes were decent. The bread was neither cold or warm. The bean mix was very sour! I'm usually a fan of sour things but this was a bit too sour for my taste. The dessert was okay. Overall, not a bad meal. The flight attendants were quite normal on this flight, not overly friendly but not rude. Some of them were a bit cold sometimes but most of them were friendly. I'm sorry for not taking a picture without the cover. This report was not planned, all of these pictures were taken for 'fun'.
I decided to take a look of the inflight offerings. I saw a QR 77W on the list and decided to purchase it. We called a flight attendant and she told us that she would take a look at the stock and tell us if they had one onboard. Almost an hour went away with no update so we told another flight attendant that we would like to buy it. She said the same thing as the other flight attendant. Eventually a third flight attendant came with our model and the purchase was complete. Disappointing experience. This model would later be placed at my model airport in Stockholm.
Eventually we initiated our descent into Doha-Hamad International Airport. We landed with an 8 minute delay on runway 34R.
Taxiing right after vacating 34R.
We were taken to a remote stand and were taken by bus to the terminal.
Our next flight to Dhaka would depart at 21:05 AST (Arabia standard time).
Boarding was very chaotic, our flight was scheduled to be operated by an A333. They normally operate a 2-class A333 to DAC but this time they had a last-minute equipment change to a 3-class A333. All of our pre-selected seats were mixed up as a result. This caused a lot of frustation at the gate. My father was placed in business class as a result while the rest of us were in Y, I did not have a window seat on this flight. The flight was packed in Y with a 90% load in business. However, some of the passengers in the business cabin were upgrades from Y.
There are no pictures from the service or anything on this flight. We were served dinner approximately an hour after departure. It was a bengali styled rice with pieces of beef. I'm not a big fan of bengali food so I didn't like it but my parents did. The IFE was decent, there was a really large IFE box which reduced my legroom. Pitch was decent as well. I slept on the whole flight after the meal service. This video was filmed from the business class cabin.
We landed at approximately 05:35 AM local time. It was quite foggy at Dhaka.
We parked next to this Turkish A332.
Immigration was horrible as usual at Dhaka. It took a long time and the staff were very rude. This is standard at Dhaka, received the same experience every time I landed here. The airport has very few shops and restaurants. DAC needs a complete overhaul. It was extremely chaotic at the baggage belts, everyone fought for their luggage but I'm used to this kind of stuff here. Eventually we managed to get ours and we were surprised that they even arrived here. Normally at least one piece of luggage gets lost here. Our driver picked us up and we went straight to one of our cousins and fell asleep for 5-6 hours. That is it for this flight :).
Random photos from Dhaka:
My father used to live here, 38 years ago.
Thank you for reading this FR :).
Note: Can't comment on access and parking at DOH, left a 7.
See more
Verdict
Qatar Airways
7.9/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew6.0
Entertainment/wifi9.5
Meal/catering8.5
Stockholm - ARN
8.1/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5
Doha - DOH
7.9/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness10.0
Conclusion
Overall I had a decent experience with QR, except the chaos before boarding our flight to DAC. I have flown with them before and my impression of them has not changed. The seats were reasonable for me but the 788 pitch can be tight for some. The crew was a bit cold sometimes and it took a long time for me to receive my model plane, definately not the best crew but have experienced much worse. Catering was good on the ARN-DOH flight, but a pre-arrival snack should have been included as well, catering on the DOH-DAC flight wasn't really good. IFE was fantastic on the 788 with lots of content, the IFE on the 330 was decent, not bad though. I would fly with them in the future only if the price is right, but it won't be one of my preferred carriers. The experience with their crews wasn't the best compared to other carriers.
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Thanks for sharing this series with us! Retro reports are not easy, but this was pretty complete :)
Nice spotting at ARN even if it was boring SK 737s (I like B737s so not boring for me), nice JU too ;)
Unfortunately, most carriers opted for the 3-3-3 configuration in Y on the B787. JL is the only carrier that I know of that has a 2-4-2 in Y.
IFE looks large and sharp, as it should be on a new plane. I've heard complaints about the variety on Oryx before, but as long as the moving map is good, I'm happy :)
Overall catering on this route looks a little light. I think the main meal service looks good. No uncovered pictured (don't worry about it), but the tray looks fairly complete. The snack service looks inadequate. I felt a sandwich should have been offered as a snack pre-arrival instead of the crackers and tapenade. This is a fairly long flight so more substantial catering should be expected by a 5*-carrier.
Disappointing crew experiences. You mention several times that they had cold service and it is very rude that it took three tries for you to get your model purchased.
Aircraft swaps are generally always bad (especially onto a smaller aircraft), but not for your dad who got to sample the J-product. It sounded like the DOH-DAC flight was not a very good experience.
Immigration was horrible as usual at Dhaka. It took a long time and the staff were very rude. ... It was extremely chaotic at the baggage belts, everyone fought for their luggage. - This is a very different part of the world with a very different culture, sometimes it's just best to just go with the flow.
Thank you for your nice comment :). Was pretty worried about this FR, if it was lacking too many pictures.
Thank you! I don't have anything against 737s, it's just boring to see all of them in the SK livery. If those were 737s of other airlines, it wouldn't have been 'boring' 737s :).
I wonder how it feels like to fly in a 3-4-3 777. Never flown in one but would like to try and compare it to the 3-3-3 787. Only one I've heard of as well, very generous of them but I wonder if it's sustainable for them economically.
I was not a big fan of the navigating menus on the A333, the moving map was also pretty outdated on that one. The moving map on the 788 didn't have the fancy views like the LH 333 but it was decent, pretty normal stuff.
Exactly my thought, even though the main dish was very tasty that made me a bit more satisfied but not entirely. Sorry about that, unfortunately that will be the same on the return flight (not a planned FR as mentioned before). I actually expected a pre-arrival snack but was disappointed to know that nothing would be served before landing.
As the crew is the most important part for me, this was quite disappointing. Especially the experience with the model plane purchase.
The flight was very chaotic upon boarding, but was pretty normal into the flight. I don't really remember much more, as I fell asleep after the meal service.
Most of this is standard at DAC. I have experienced the same before so it felt like it was normal to me. I don't really have any issues adapting to their culture but I couldn't mention that the experience after landing was great or decent (even if it was ordinary stuff for me and my famiily), as the experience was way below satisfactory in terms of international standards.
I wonder how it feels like to fly in a 3-4-3 777 - Haven't tried and it's not high on my list of things to do! Unfortunately it will only be a matter of time before every carrier switches to this configuration.
I wonder if it's sustainable for them economically. - Must be, otherwise they would have changed their configuration a long time ago. They are making up the money with their bad J-product :) (although they are finally starting to put in flat-beds on their older 787s)
I actually expected a pre-arrival snack but was disappointed to know that nothing would be served before landing. - I though this was a standard practice by ME carriers on routes into Europe, DOH is a really long flight from ARN.
I wonder how it would have felt on a, let's say 11 hour flight!
I have heard and seen many FR's with positive feedback regarding TK. I could give them another chance, but the fact that I have been on 8 flights on them and all were miserable don't really make me having them as an option anymore.
That's a pretty complete report considering that you didn't know about flight-report at the time! You even have pics of catering...sure the lid is still on, but it's better than no pic :-)
I have yet to fly on a 787, but I'm sure the 3-3-3 configuration is tight. I wonder if it's tighter than a 3-4-3 777. If it is, then I'll just make sure to keep avoiding 787s in Economy. Although I try to avoid Y whenever possible, LOL.
Would have been interesting to see reports on those bad TK flights. Yes, there are lots of positive reports, but in general, reports seem to consistently show that whenever anything goes remotely wrong, TK can't handle the irregular operations and everything seems to fall apart.
I'm really curious about the comfort on a 10-abreast 777. Have to try it one day, maybe I could choose EK the next time I fly to DAC.
Unfortunately I don't have a single picture of those flights. The biggest disaster on all of those flights was the crew, probably worst crews I have ever experience (Yes, on ALL of my TK flights).
Holy crap I am so so sorry. I never realised I wrote "Pakis" instead of "Pakistanis" and immediately changed it. I had no idea about the term mostly being used in a negative context when I wrote this report, my intention was never to use that word with a negative reference to Pakistanis. I greatly apologize for this mistake, the intention was never to be "hostile" against Pakistanis in any way and I'm sorry if I offended you but it was never anything I wanted to do. It has been changed now.
Thanks for commenting, have a good one and enjoy the rest of your day.
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627 reviews
15 Comments
As I mentioned in the report, this FR was not really planned.
Nice spotting at ARN even if it was boring SK 737s (I like B737s so not boring for me), nice JU too ;)
Unfortunately, most carriers opted for the 3-3-3 configuration in Y on the B787. JL is the only carrier that I know of that has a 2-4-2 in Y.
IFE looks large and sharp, as it should be on a new plane. I've heard complaints about the variety on Oryx before, but as long as the moving map is good, I'm happy :)
Overall catering on this route looks a little light. I think the main meal service looks good. No uncovered pictured (don't worry about it), but the tray looks fairly complete. The snack service looks inadequate. I felt a sandwich should have been offered as a snack pre-arrival instead of the crackers and tapenade. This is a fairly long flight so more substantial catering should be expected by a 5*-carrier.
Disappointing crew experiences. You mention several times that they had cold service and it is very rude that it took three tries for you to get your model purchased.
Aircraft swaps are generally always bad (especially onto a smaller aircraft), but not for your dad who got to sample the J-product. It sounded like the DOH-DAC flight was not a very good experience.
Immigration was horrible as usual at Dhaka. It took a long time and the staff were very rude. ... It was extremely chaotic at the baggage belts, everyone fought for their luggage.
- This is a very different part of the world with a very different culture, sometimes it's just best to just go with the flow.
Thank you! I don't have anything against 737s, it's just boring to see all of them in the SK livery. If those were 737s of other airlines, it wouldn't have been 'boring' 737s :).
I wonder how it feels like to fly in a 3-4-3 777. Never flown in one but would like to try and compare it to the 3-3-3 787. Only one I've heard of as well, very generous of them but I wonder if it's sustainable for them economically.
I was not a big fan of the navigating menus on the A333, the moving map was also pretty outdated on that one. The moving map on the 788 didn't have the fancy views like the LH 333 but it was decent, pretty normal stuff.
Exactly my thought, even though the main dish was very tasty that made me a bit more satisfied but not entirely. Sorry about that, unfortunately that will be the same on the return flight (not a planned FR as mentioned before). I actually expected a pre-arrival snack but was disappointed to know that nothing would be served before landing.
As the crew is the most important part for me, this was quite disappointing. Especially the experience with the model plane purchase.
The flight was very chaotic upon boarding, but was pretty normal into the flight. I don't really remember much more, as I fell asleep after the meal service.
Most of this is standard at DAC. I have experienced the same before so it felt like it was normal to me. I don't really have any issues adapting to their culture but I couldn't mention that the experience after landing was great or decent (even if it was ordinary stuff for me and my famiily), as the experience was way below satisfactory in terms of international standards.
- Haven't tried and it's not high on my list of things to do! Unfortunately it will only be a matter of time before every carrier switches to this configuration.
I wonder if it's sustainable for them economically.
- Must be, otherwise they would have changed their configuration a long time ago. They are making up the money with their bad J-product :) (although they are finally starting to put in flat-beds on their older 787s)
I actually expected a pre-arrival snack but was disappointed to know that nothing would be served before landing.
- I though this was a standard practice by ME carriers on routes into Europe, DOH is a really long flight from ARN.
It's a a pretty nice lunch. Was there any snack served prior to landing in DOH?
3-3-3 on a 787 is not the most confortable but still better as 3-4-3 on a 777.
Unfortunately no pre-arrival snack was served on this flight.
I'm really interested in trying out a 10-abreast 777. Maybe next time I fly to DAC.
The 3-3-3 configuration might be narrow but i sadly used by almost all 787 operators except JAL and ANA.
It's sad you had bad experiences with TK as IMO it is one of the best airlines in Europe :(
Anyway, this QR flight looked quite good :D
I wonder how it would have felt on a, let's say 11 hour flight!
I have heard and seen many FR's with positive feedback regarding TK. I could give them another chance, but the fact that I have been on 8 flights on them and all were miserable don't really make me having them as an option anymore.
I have yet to fly on a 787, but I'm sure the 3-3-3 configuration is tight. I wonder if it's tighter than a 3-4-3 777. If it is, then I'll just make sure to keep avoiding 787s in Economy. Although I try to avoid Y whenever possible, LOL.
Would have been interesting to see reports on those bad TK flights. Yes, there are lots of positive reports, but in general, reports seem to consistently show that whenever anything goes remotely wrong, TK can't handle the irregular operations and everything seems to fall apart.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm really curious about the comfort on a 10-abreast 777. Have to try it one day, maybe I could choose EK the next time I fly to DAC.
Unfortunately I don't have a single picture of those flights. The biggest disaster on all of those flights was the crew, probably worst crews I have ever experience (Yes, on ALL of my TK flights).
Thanks for commenting, have a good one and enjoy the rest of your day.
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