Doha-Manchester May 2008 ( same day as LHE-DOH).Apologies for quality of and lack of photos due to no Flight-Report being around and deleting many nice photos by mistake when I hadn't yet heard of restoring !
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The new terminal at Doha can't come too soon. The 5 star onboard service of QR is handicapped by the poor ground product at Doha. You could see where flights had come in from in the mad rush, I mean come on,have separate channels for those(like me) whose flights depart within the hour. Masses of Nigerian,Indonesian,German and English passengers all joined the throng and finally we made it to our gate where we would be bussed to the apron again !
We got bussed to our aircraft and saw A7-AEJ that I had just arrived on from Lahore with it's doors open and the cleaners coming down the steps. We ended up parking next to A7-AEM…incidentally this aircraft was only 4 months old in the fleet when I flew it. The Purser at the back quickly took my pass and showed me to my seat but it was a Korean Stewardess inside who gave such a lovely smile that made me remember which airline I am on ! Other crew in our section,were Indian,Thai,Argentine,Eastern European and The Philippines and they were immaculate and personal throughout. The headphones in Economy were awful and are the type you put into your ear..grrrrrrrr! .So anyway, I spoke to the Purser and asked if we can have two rows of seats to ourselves and she got us two rows(as I'm airline staff). My Mrs wanted me to hold her hand for take off and after take off some lady was on the row I was meant to stretch out on and she said "ME NO ENGLISH".
I thought to myself,ME NO ENERGY TO ARGUE,HAVE THE SEATS !. The flight left 1 hour late and Captain Aziz kept us updated then and through the flight.
Breakfast was superb with frittata,chicken sausage,and a potatoe croquette with all the usual drinks plus alcohol ( at 10am in the morning ?!!). QR onboard service is the only 5 star thing about the airline as are it's planes. Reservations and ground staff are pants. Got pre take off sweets and wet tissues which gave a premium touch. Prior to landing it was a spicy chicken baguette and blueberry muffin on a bed of vanilla custard, again with as many drinks as you can manage !
Flight landed in Manchester exactly 7 hours later as per schedule and one weird thing is that they start showing BBC news on descent on the overhead screens and you need your earphones to hear the news. Not a good time to show this when everyone should be concentrating on landing and safety !
I love this airline and would heartily recommend it to anyone. They even give Paratha (traditional Pakistani/Indian fried flatbread) pieces on Pakistan routes ! If they had Urdu speaking crew on Pakistan flights that would really complete the experience.
10/10 to Qatar Airways !
Airports I have seen Qatar Airways in or have flown with Qatar Airways from/to
KHI/LHE/KWI/AUH/LHR/MAN/IST
