Review of Qatar Airways flight from Colombo to Doha in Economy

Hi everyone,
Welcome to the 5th report of this new series covering my latest trip to Sri Lanka and Maldives with Qatar Airways and Korean Air.
The whole trip plan looks like this:
01 FEB - WAW-DOH, QR 264 - A330-300 - you can find it here
01 FEB - DOH-CMB, QR 662 - A350-900 - you can find it here
10 FEB - CMB-MLE, KE 473 - A330-300 - you can find it here
14 FEB - MLE-CMB, KE 474 - A330-300 - you can find it here
16 FEB - CMB-DOH, QR 665 - A340-600 - you are here
16 FEB - DOH - WAW, QR 261 - B787-800

TOURIST BONUS - COLOMBO

As probably some of you know, Colombo is not one of the most beautiful and interesting capitals. I would say it isn't even necessary to visit the city while being to Sri Lanka as all the beauty of this country is definitely elsewhere. That is why we left Colombo for the very last day of our stay and I can tell you now that this one day was enough.
The city has some great colonial architecture located mostly in the oldest and most central district called Fort as it is located where an old fort used to be once.

What I liked in Colombo was the ocean and it's proximity to the center. It provided some fresh air and coolling winds.

We made a long walk to the Lotus TV Tower to find out it was not ready yet and we could just watch it from outside

Colombo's town hall looks a little bit like …. the Congress :)

But this Buddha statue located in front makes it clear: we are in Asia

THE FLIGHT

It was a sad day to be coming back home after two wonderful weeks in Sri Lanka in Maldives. Even if I was already a little bit tired of changing places so frequently, I wasn't very happy to be coming back to cold mid February Poland.
As I wrote in my previous reports, QR made some changes to our initial reservation regarding the flight to Colombo and also the flight back changing the initial 777-300 to A340-600 which was a great treat for me. A340 is slowly disappearing from the sky and as I have never flown it before, my happiness was double and made me forget a little bit the sadness of coming back home.
One more trip to already well known vintage CMB with its ancient FIDS… At least it was quite smooth and we didn't loose much time even if the queues to check-in stand seemed endless at fisrt sight.

After a short visit to the duty free area we made it to the gate where security check was done just before boarding. It is good as you can keep your bottle of water until the very last moment. On the other hand, should you buy any liquid in duty free and forget to ask the staff to seal it, you will be forced to leave it at the airport.

View of the apron with some nice birds including QR A330 departing just 1:30 ahead of us and Rossiya 777-300 operating Aeroflot flight to Moscow.

Finally a view of our 4 engines long beauty. Actually A340-600 was the longest passenger jet until the first flight of 747-800 in 2010.

You can feel the lenght of the fuselage while being still inside the jestbridge. The distance between door 1 and 2 is quite big.

I chose us seats in the very front small economy cabin located just after a very small business class section. QR uses these jets only on the routes where there is no big demand for businness class seats and mostly on popular tourist destinations to Asia (BKK, CMB, KUL). I didn't know it that day, as it was announced a couple of weeks later, that the last flights of QR's A340-600 are scheduled for the 1st of May 2019! So that was my first and last experience of this kind.

The cabin looks exactly as the one of A330, you can't really tell the difference without looking out of the window.

The A340 has the same comfortable 2-4-2 configuration, yet the QR version, despite a very decent legroom, has the same IFE box that makes my left leg feel carmped. The screens are old with quite low resolution and the only way to navigate them is using the remote control hidden in the armrest.

Refreshing towels are distributed and the jet bridge is taken away so we can start our taxi

Saudia 777-300 is also taxiing for departure

We are slowly leaving the apron and entering the runway

The sound of four engines is great even if it is unusual for me to sit ahead of them

Last view of Sri Lanka as we overfly the Negombo Lagoon heading towards the ocean and India

I love this view, it's so nice to fly a 4-engine jet :)

The safety card

And some fleet facts

My favourite "children section" in duty free magazine. QR has introduced a new product - a key ring teddy that will soon join my collection but, as they have just launched a special boutique in DOH, I will buy it there and not onboard.

Not long after take off we reach the south end of India

I spend some time in the galley just next to our section waiting for my turn to the lavatory. I'm once again surprised by the very friendly attitude of the cabin crew offering me water or something else to drink during my wait, it's so kind and not to be expected in many other airlines.

The toilet looks very classic but…. it has one very nice feature: a window! Now I know why I waited so long. I suppose everyone spends here more time than usually admiring the outside view ;)

When I'm back to my seat the menu cards are distributed. I'm a little bit fed up with Sri Lankan food but let's give it a try. Only one meal service is provided for this 5:00 flight which is enough. As on every QR flight, drinks will be distributed during the entire flight, so noone is going to be thirsty.

My first choice was the vegetable curry but as I would need to wait for it, I decided to take the chicken. Once again there's a Greek flight attendant working in my row - a very friendly girl from Athens named Kyriaki. We chat a little bit during service and afterwards, she's surprised to hear someone not being Greek speak her language.
My tray with chicken dish, salad, tiramisu cake and bread roll. Everything was good and the cake even better.

After approximately 2 hours spent over the Indian Ocean finally we reach the sandy shores of Oman.

Sandy desert is then replaced with high mountains

Beacuse of the blocade we are not allowed to enter the UAE airspace

The Gulf seems cloudy and misty today, there is not much to see until the very last moment before touchdown

These shallow lagoons remind me of Maldives

Welcome back to Doha

Deboarding will be done by bus which is a little bit strange regarding the size of the aircraft but at least I will be able to take some pictures of this rare bird.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and see you in the final report of the series soon!