Review of Qatar Airways flight Warsaw Doha in Economy

Airline Qatar Airways
Flight QR 262
Class Economy
Seat 10F
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 05:40
Take-off 01 Feb 18, 21:10
Arrival at 02 Feb 18, 04:50
QR   #10 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 623 reviews
loukas
By 2828
Published on 25th February 2018
Hi and welcome to this FR covering the first flight of my 9-flights trip to South-East Asia that took place this February.

The whole trip plan looks as follows:

01.02 WAW-DOH, QATAR AIRWAYS - A320
02.02 DOH-BKK, QATAR AIRWAYS - A380
05.02 BKK-REP, THAI SMILE - A320
07.02 REP-KUL, AIR ASIA - A320neo
09.02 KUL-SGN, MALAYSIA AIRLINES - B738
12.02 SGN-PQC, VIET JET AIR - A321
16.02 PQC-BKK, BANGKOK AIRWAYS - ATR72-600
17.02 BKK-DOH, QATAR AIRWAYS - A380
17.02 DOH-WAW, QATAR AIRWAYS - A320

BACKGROUND



It has actually been a long time I heavn't been anywhere further than Europe or North Africa. I kept in my mind my one and only far trip to Thailand and Singapore 4 years ago and kept flying around Europe dreaming of going back to places where I had such a wonderful time. This autumn a decision has been made: we go back to South - East Asia to see places we haven't been to during our previous trip. The first plan was to fly Emirates and make a long stopover in Dubai to see the city. Ticket prices in the beginning of November made us change our plans a little bit and choose to visit Doha instead of Dubai. I wasn't mad at all. Qatar Airways has been one of the airlines I dreamt flying with for a long time and when they introduced a second daily connection to Warsaw some tickets in resonable prices appeared giving not only a possibility to go where we were going but also to stay one day in Doha and fly my biggest dream - the A380. The fact that as a result of such trip plan we will stay almost two days sleepless (not counting of course some sleeping attempts during the flights) didn't seem real during booking. We thought about it and felt it later but nevermind… what are two sleepless nights if you fly Qatar Airways A380? Nothing! I was thrilled and counting days to go. In the meantime we made a list of places and countries we would like to visit, thinking it would be good to visit more than just 2 countries as the last time as we fly so far away from home. The plan seemed a little bit crazy at first but we are generally used to travelling fast and changing places we stay frequently. The other good thing in such an intense trip was I could book all the flights within our trip choosing airlines and aircraft I would like to fly. I remember feeling all this time as if it was Christmas everyday with every ticket being like a gift. Waiting was long and fearfull (hoping nothing happens that could cancel the trip of our dreams) and finally THE DAY has come…

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THE FLIGHT



Qatar Airways operates two daily flights to Warsaw the first and main one being operated by A333 and the second one that was added this winter by A320. I wasn't really happy to spend 6 hours on a narrow body jet and was a little bit anxious not to fly one of the oldest A320s that don't have PTVs. My research has shown QR flies mostly the newer jets to WAW but the older ones also appeared from time to time. With a relief I saw on the day of our departure that a new one A7-AHW A320 was going to be our ride.

Our flight was supposed to depart at 21:10 and as the FlightRadar showed that the incoming flight from Doha arrives early, we decided to be at the airport 2 hours before the flight (anyway from the early morning I was ready to go and couldn't wait).

Qatar Airways check-in desks are located in section B of the terminal. There aren't many flights departing this our as we are in the middle of winter when there are no charter flights to Greece and Turkey that make WAW so busy during summer

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We are asked to come to the business class desk (we wouldn't mind getting upgraded). The baggage drop procedure is quick as we are already checked-in online and the guy is very polite and professional.

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The airport seems…deserted. Even the security check is quick and totally uneventful (where have all the rude controllers gone?), so is the passport control.



Our gate is 16N (N meaning: NO Shengen)

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WAW has lately introduced special kid's play zones powered by LOT, some of them were not ready yet that day, some were already usable. I heard people say they look a little bit like cages…

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The outside conditions (darkness and rain) make any spotting hardly possible, luckily I manage to catch LOT's newest bird, the 737 MAX 8

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Having nothing to do we head to our gate where our A320 has already arrived from Doha. It wasn't really possible to take any decent photo as it was almost totally covered by the ground service stuff.

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Looks like this LOT 787 is having and engine check. There is also a E70 departing to MUC

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It's finally time to board our plane. Finally I manage to take a photo at least of its nose…

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The boarding procedure is well organized, pax seating in different rows that are currently indicated for boarding are not let and that makes it easier to get to your seat. Our boarding passes are checked by a friendly FA and we proceed to our seats 10E and 10F passing by the long-haul style business class. It looks really good onboard a narrow body jet, but has one disadvantage for economy passengers that we are about to discover: limited legroom.



There is a pillow, a blanket and a small amenity kit waiting for us. How nice :)

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Let's have a look inside (I don't know what happened to this pic but despite my numerous attempts I couldn't make it horizontal even if it was taken like this). Eye mask, socks, toothbrush, earplugs and lip balm. Looks great for economy flight.

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And now the pitch. It is surprisingly limitated - I'm only 1,75 cm tall - (as a result I suppose of the extended business class) and the IFE box makes it even worse. Anyway I'm so happy to be flying QR finally that I forgive them this small inconvenience.

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The PTV is small and its resolution is not too good but it's fine to have it anyway for what is going to be a 5:30 flight.

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Safety demo is played in English and Arabic and we are ready to go

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Speeding up for take off isn't as long as I thought (we must have enough fuel for a long flight and the aircraft is fully packed) and the take off itself is smooth



We make a deep turn right and fly south-eastwards over the city

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I take some time to see the fameous Oryx IFE contents before the dinner service starts. The inflight maps work quite good, there is also a wide range of movies, games and TV shows and some news about QR and the state of Qatar.



There is also a complimentary WIFI but the free of charge limit of 10 MB is very small and it finishes after 10 minutes

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A guy sitting in the row ahead of us is going to use the head rest extension or his pillow for the entire flight, so the cabin from my seat looks more or less like this.

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Let's check the seat pocket, once again my photos seem to live their own lives and disobey. Headphones are decent and provide quite a good sound quality.



It's time for dinner, menu cards are distributed (my photo again doesn't want to cooperate)

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We both choose the chicken biryani that is really very tasty. On the tray there is also a cup of water, a salad, butter, cream cheese, a small chcocolate, a roll and chocolate and salted carmel kind of cake for dessert. Everything tastes good and even better with a beer.



A light snack is mentioned as a second meal but it never arrives and that's good because the dinner is enough not to be hungry till late in the morning. During the rest of the flight FAs pass frequently with water and juices served in cups diretcly from the tray. It's good as the cabin is very dry and warm (I heard a lot od QR flights being too cold and was prepared but actually it was a little bit too warm for me and I never used the blanket.

I took some sleep after dinner and woke up over north Turkey to see what I first took to be very low clouds but seemed rather mountains covered with snow (there are even some ski resorts in this region).

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The rest of the flight was half sleeping, half watching the map. The cabin lights were dimmed and the FAs passed noiselessly a couple of times to distribute drinks. Finally we were getting closer.



It's Qatar below. We pass Doha on our right, overfly the airport and then take a deep turn right to land from the south.



The business class seats seen as we disembark
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And our aircraft (I was asked by a ground staff member not to take pictures, so I took this one from the bus when he wasn't watching). What is wrong in taking a plane photo? That was the one and only case during this trip that something like that happened.

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Ok, so here we are in Qatar, it's 4:30 in the morning local time, it's 17 degrees Celsius compared to 2-3 grades in Warsaw makes it feel rather warm. We decide first to go to the transfer desk, to ask if we can first pass to the terminal to have some sleep in one of the quiet rooms and then leave the airport to see the city. We are assured it is ok, but after a while in the quite room we realize we are not sleepy at all and head to the exit and long as hell queue to passport control.

To be continued shortly. Thanks for reading!
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Verdict

Qatar Airways

8.9/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.5
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering9.0

Warsaw - WAW

9.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0

Doha - DOH

9.3/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

The first flight with Qatar Airways shows that the airline has nothing to do with most of the European carriers I'm used to. I can compare it only to Aegean. The meal service was very good and the FAs very polite and attentive. The IFE system was good, the screen could be a little bit better. The legroom wasn't as good as I expected and a person taller than me could have some problems during an almost 6 hours flight but my overall experience is very good and by now QR is the best airline I few so far.

Information on the route Warsaw (WAW) Doha (DOH)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Warsaw (WAW) → Doha (DOH).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Qatar Airways avec 8.3/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 5 heures et 38 minutes.

  More information

8 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 433565 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    Dziekuje for thiswell written FR !
    Well, except for the limited legroom, it sure doen't feel like your usual narrowbody flight with the IFE and nice diner service.
    Was the flight on the A330 more expensive or did the timing of the A320 flight suit you better ?
    Those long connections on the ME3 are a treat when you begin a trip and are excited about it and have energy to explore, less so on the way back.
    • Comment 433658 by
      loukas AUTHOR 341 Comments
      Hi, yes, you are completely right, the legroom was berable considering all the rest. The A330 flight was more or less at the same price but it didn't give the opportunity to see Doha, so that is why we chose the night flight with A320. The long connection seemed fine while we were booking our tickets, it was worse when we tried not to fall asleep many times during the day. Thanks for stopping by.
  • Comment 435285 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Hi Loukas, thanks for sharing this new series! That's kind of a long flight on a narrowbody, though this is becoming more and more common with so many TATL and TCON flights not on narrowbodies. As far as the cabin goes, this is about as good as you can expect for a narrowbody, except for maybe the surprisingly tight seat pitch. The business class cabin looks really nice--you definitely don't expect to see fully flat seats on an A320! The catering looks really good for Y. Overall a pretty nice product. Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 435331 by
      loukas AUTHOR 341 Comments
      Hi Kevin, thanks a lot for stopping by! Long flights on narrowbodies are generally much more tiring than on the widebodies but the overall product was better than expected and these almost 6 hours passed quickly. Yes, the business class cabin looks completely widebody style, haven't seen anything like this before. Have a nice week!
  • Comment 435311 by
    Benoit75008 7191 Comments
    Czesc Loukas.
    Really nice and quite rare to see Chopin Airport so empty, which is not so bad!

    I really prefer Schengen zone as non-Schengen one is pretty small and can be really uncomfortable when flights to LAX or JFK are boarding at the same time.

    Concerning the flight, it's a pretty nice comfortable one.
    The catering seems to be good and enjoying an IFE is a real pleasure in an A320 :-)

    Milego dnia i do zobaczenia
    • Comment 435332 by
      loukas AUTHOR 341 Comments
      Cześć Benoit! Merci beaucoup. I don't like the Non-Schengen zone too, it's too small and has to be terrible when more longhaul flights depart at the same time. Yes, this flight was one of my best ones so far. Miłego tygodnia!
  • Comment 435578 by
    Rl 777 802 Comments
    Thank you for sharing this FR with us!

    Wow, that is a long itinerary, can’t wait to read them all :).

    “N meaning: NO Shengen”
    That seems like a simple but efficient way of separating Non-Schengen gates from Schengen gates.

    “WAW has lately introduced special kid's play zones powered by LOT”
    Oh yes, I remember seeing them when flying out of WAW recently.

    Nice shot of the MAX 8!

    “but has one disadvantage for economy passengers that we are about to discover: limited legroom.”
    If SeatGuru can be trusted, the pitch should land at about 31 inches which is tight. However, wide-body is not always better as I remember feeling cramped in QR’s 787s (also 31 inches of seat pitch). Nonetheless it’s nice you got an A320 with IFE for this flight.

    “small amenity kit”
    Nice to see! Definitely a rarity these days.

    Nice to hear the meal was good.

    Stunning aerial night shots!

    Have a good one, see you later.

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