Dear Readers,
This time reporting my newest adventure across to Bangkok with the 5* Experience of Qatar Airways unique First Class.
My day started in Cairo flying the almost First Class cabin of the Boeing 787's Business which will come in a separate report.
For the first time I had the chance to visit the new lounge addition ''Al Safwa'' First in Doha Hamad Airport.
After being directed to the lounge I was welcomed by a very charming egyptian gentleman that happened to speak italian and we exchanged a vast conversation about aviation in perfect italian which was a very nice and genuine touch of him and gave me the perfect insight of what it was to come in my visit.
Lounge was first of all big, very well lighted and had everything you needed. Overstaffed maybe? I don't know but there sure was a lot of staff ready to be at your service for any request.
As I was already stuffed from the food and wine from my Cairo flight I just had a plate of fruits with a glass of Krug before heading to my gate.
Fruits beautifully presented
Tonight gate assigned was B35 which was a short walk from the lounge.
After a quick security screening I entered the fantastic A-380 and was welcomed by a team of beautiful and generous flight attendants and directed me to seat 1K, first impressions of the cabin were just WOW.
The seat itself was amazing, reminds me a bit of the new seat of AF La Premiere, this cabin was very tasteful,elegantly discreet and full of space and light (unlinke the bling bling of others F class cabins)
IFE Screen was huge, high resolution and probably 32 inches… I am not completely sure but I suspect it is…
Welcome drink…Again Krug :)
We took off just in time, everything was perfect…Welcome drink was of course Krug and PJ's of very good quality together with a pair of slippers for a very quick 6:20mins flight to BKK.
Dinner service started, I decided to try:
-Caviar service served with chilled Grey Goose Vodka
-Roasted breast of duck with new potatoes and grilled vegetables
-Cheese plate
-La Duree Plaisir Sucree
Time to relax…
My beautiful and unique flight attendant Sejin took excellent care of me during the whole service, wines of course were amazing as it is the case with Qatar Airways Business/First cabins (very far from AA/UA/DL offer) and all wines matched perfectly the course being served.
I have to make a remark of the excellent quality of the dessert,my compliments to QR for selecting LaDuree for their catering of sweets.
After dinner I headed back to the bar as I didn't want to sleep during the flight and happened to make a very good chat with the amazing cabin crew. As happens in many forums some frequent flyers claim that Middle Eastern crews are not genuine, that they are robotic minded and follow a script. I have to say that I have flown 5 times this year with QR and I had the feeling that everyone was genuine, very natural and enjoyed very much their job.
I met a fantastic group of crew from India,Korea,Bangladesh among others and in their honour (and with their permission) I publish their picture so if you happen to see them in one of your QR's flights rest assured you will have an amazing experience!
After taking a lot of time of my new friends I went to the toilet for a quick refresh before descent. Now I have to tell you guys, it may not have the shower of EK but it is huge! Very elegant and had all the perks you needed for such a short flight…
After that I took my seat and sun was coming out…sadly the flight was coming to an end.
We landed quickly in Bangkok and with the light of the day the last picture of the fantastic seat 1K :)
Immigration was quick and bag was already in the belt when I arrived to the baggage claim area.
Wow! Qatar is definitely having on of the best seats in the airline industry! I took their a380s economy last year and I can royally tell anyone they are one of the best! Really enjoyed your report ;)
Thank you! Yes, everyone gets a great product in that airplane.
Thank you for the comment! And yes, everyeone gets a fantastic service in that airplane.
Hello jeechern! Thank you for your feedback and kind words, yes indeed QR is a great airline!
Thank you for your feedback Jeechern. I can only agree with you that Qatar has a great product in all classes!
Thank you jeechern for the feedback. I only can agree with you, Qatar has a very strong product in all classes.
True Skyteam, it is easy in such big competition to make up simple stories like cabin crew being robotic, to me is all non sense. Take care!
As I tell everyone...there is simply no way to compete with this product. Period.
Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for your feedback skyteam! Indeed cabins is luxury,discreet and very easy on the eyes! As you say the trend is to blame these airlines but there is nothing to blame...it is called clear and crystal competition and you as a customer are free to choose the one that suits your needs!
Thanks for a great report! We have two reports on the new Al-Safwa lounge in one week! That's the great thing about the members of Flight-Report, whenever there is something exciting or new in the airline world, someone will post about it almost immediately! I really do like the look of the QR A380 F cabin, and you are right, it has a certain class and elegance that is very reminiscent of the new AF La Premiere cabin. Definitely looks better than the gaudy blinginess of their biggest competitor. A great crew and a great product just makes for a perfect flight! I think a lot of people who post in forums that Premium Middle East or Asian carrier crews are robotic tend to be American. Our crews here in the U.S. tend to be very comfortable with being familiar with passengers and using terms of endearment like honey, baby, sweetie, etc. Personally I like this kind of familiarity as I always enjoy chatting with crews and it makes them approachable, but it is a culturally a very North American thing. It can be off-putting to non-Americans. And in the same way, I think Americans, who are used to this kind of familiarity, may find crews on some foreign carriers, who may be more reserved to be cold and robotic. That's just my theory...I could be wrong or just full of it, haha.
Kevin Hello!
Glad you liked the report. Yes, I agree partially with you concerning the service with American carriers which I also fly a lot. For instance, I flew some weeks ago with AA in J from JFK/LHR and service is always a hit or miss, crew are too informal and when I pay money to fly the Premium cabins I expect service but also the treatment of the class I am paying for. Now, this might be very European but I think manners and refinement is something you should expect when flying First or Business. Don't get me wrong, I have come across many very professional American flight attendants but sadly most are not and every time you walk around American airports is a kind of circus where each crew take the uniform as they please, no standards, some are very loud etc... Qatar delivers professionalism , luxury and refined service from their crew and they have absolutely no robotic attitude, actually I had hours and hours of very funny laughs and comments about their job,life and aviation in general.
I will take some more detailed pictures of AL SAFWA on my return which is due tonight.
GC.
Hi Kevin! I'm glad you liked my report. Yes, QR can be a different world for North Americans. I have to admit that when I fly QR I feel every single Euro spent worth it! I hope I can post more reports this 2016 with QR, it will always be a pleasure to see the A380 product which in my opinion is outstanding.
Have a nice week,GC.
Thank for this report Giancarlo !
I'm agree with you on everything, I stop to spost FR on this forum following too many QR bashing posted in comments.
QR remind me the Golden era of flying , their crew are fantastic and even if PJs or Krug are dispearing the product is still very strong.
Hi Abyssin, I think the general idea of everyone here is that QR offers a great product combined with a terrific customer service in the air. Krug for sure is one of the strongest points to fly with QR, no doubt about it!
You can follow me on twitter giancarlo330
Take care!