Review of Qatar Airways flight from Washington to Doha in Business

First Time in the Middle East

I cobbled together a summer vacation trip to Cairo (among other places) in a very piece-meal manner, which I'll explain as these trip reports come together.  For the first part of this trip, I floated the idea of going to see the Pyramids with a good friend of mine, who had very limited availability that happened to somewhat fit with mine.  At the same time, I happened across QSuites availability from IAD on precisely the day I needed, so that set the beginning of this trip.

This would be a trip of many firsts for me.  For this flight, this would be my first time flying on a Middle Eastern airline, my first time on QR, and my first time flying QSuites.  Come to think of it, I believe this is actually my first time flying a business class with doors.  I booked this flight with 70,000 Qatar Avios.

Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

I got to IAD around 2 hours before departure this time.  It was packed, especially the Qatar check-in counters (that's the mass of humanity you see in the back of this picture).

Luckily, not as many people in queue for business class. It took a while because there were multiple large family groups before me in line.  I was quickly checked-in once I reached the counter and directed towards the Turkish lounge (interesting choice given where the gates are).

By security, even the CLEAR lines were quite long–I couldn't tell if it would have been faster for me to just go through the regular TSA Pre line.

My gate was in A, so it didn't make sense to go to Turkish Lounge in B.  I originally wanted to try the new re-branded Chase/Etihad lounge, but when I got there it was closed to non-Etihad customers (perhaps just before the Etihad flight?).

Air France Lounge (IAD)

Since I preferred to stay closer to the gate, I looked into my usual Air France lounge instead.  I was under the impression that this lounge closes to Priority Pass holders 3 hours before the two AF flights, but I was allowed in.

I've reviewed this lounge several times before, so I won't get too detailed.  It was decently full in advance of the Air France flights.  There was hot catering, though the food wasn't very good.

I had a little snack along with a glass of Taittinger, which I'm still surprised they serve for a Priority Pass access lounge.

Lounge Wifi was fast.

You can actually see my QR flight from the AF lounge.

There was some interesting planespotting as well: a Saudia 77W.

Here's a LH A346:

An Air France A350-900:

QR708

My flight to Doha would be on A7-BEL, a 6-years old 777-300ER.  Boarding began 12 minutes–not sure why.  It seemed a rather chaotic process.

I soon my made way to the beautiful forward business cabin.  Boarding was already in full force so I couldn't get a great picture of the cabin, but here we are.  The famous QSuites at last!

I was in 3K this flight, one of the window-adjacent, rear-facing seats.  I think this is my first time flying in a rear-facing seat as well.

A few pillows and a duvet awaits you at your seat.  Very curious that it was a Singapore pillow (but I guess they don't change these with the destination?).

The seat is very well thought out–I was impressed.  A variety of controls can be found right under the counter in front of the seat, with all of the charging connections.  The footwell was spacious.  The IFE was large and crisp.  There was a little additional to the right of the seat as well.

By contrast to the seat, I was surprised the amenity "kit" was . . . a cardboard box.

At least the contents were the same as a normal kit.

I was warmly welcomed on board by Vishal and later the purser, Molly.  They asked if I wanted anything before takeoff and I had a glass of the Devaux Rose for my PDB.  It was okay.

They also presented me with a lovely set of pajamas by the White Company–they were fairly comfortable to sleep in.

While sitting down, you can really see that the shell of the seat and the doors are reasonably tall–providing excellent privacy.

The slippers were fine, plenty comfortable for in-flight use.

Qatar had its own branded headphones, which were okay.

This picture is from later inflight, but you can see that the door is quite high (from when sitting) and very easy to operate.

We pushed back at 9:13, a little behind schedule. On our way out, I saw a Lufthansa A380–I had no idea they were even flying to IAD at this time.

We took off at 9:32pm ET.

I had pre-ordered my meal before the flight.  Here's what the selection was online.

Here's the full menu: it's a pretty impressive selection for business class.  Vishal took my breakfast order before takeoff as well (I was told by a friend that on full flights to get your orders in just in case they run out of what you want).

The wine list was, unfortunately, not as good as what I had seen in reviews pre-pandemic.  Nevertheless, it probably tops most other business class wine lists out there (except for Taiwanese airlines and Emirates).

Service began about an hour after takeoff because of some initial turbulence. I opted for a glass of the 2017 Penfolds Chardonnay–it tasted like a what you'd expect from a South Australian chardonnay–not my preference in terms of style.  When drinking Australian chardonnays, better stick to those from Margaret River. To start, Vishal brought a small ramekin of nuts.

The tablecloth and bread course was then beautifully placed–fantastic presentation for business class.

Don't worry, it's not a real candle.

Before the starter, they presented a beautiful lobster and caviar amuse.  This was before Qatar rolled out a mini Caviar service in business class.  It was a great bite.

For my starter, I had the double crusted Balik salmon–which was pretty good.

I pre-ordered the Maine lobster newburg for my main.  I suppose I can't help but order lobster when it's available on a flight–even though it doesn't taste that great when reheated and in the air.  It was a perfectly fine lobster course though.

For dessert, I just had an ice cream sundae.

The meal service was impressively efficient–taking about 50 minutes total despite dine-on-demand and plating each course.  Vishal later told me they were trying to move fast to make up for the lost time from the turbulence so guests so go to sleep.  After finishing my meal I went to check out the lavatory and change into the pajamas.  It was fairly standard, with toothbrush/toothpaste sets available in a drawer.

After I returned to my seat, I asked Vishal to set up my bed–here in upright position.

Then ready for sleep.

The window-adjacent seats feel quite spacious despite the door closed.  I had read some feedback that business class seats with doors felt a bit coffin-like, but not so for QSuites at least.

Now that it was time for sleep, each QSuite was closed off and the cabin lights were dimmed.

I woke up with about 4 hours left in flight and checked out the snack basket–you're better off asking for something off the snacks menu.

I'll note that WiFi, while cheap at $10 for the full flight, was absolutely terrible.  It was more or less unusable.  The speeds made me long for United's WiFi service–that's how bad it was.

Here's a view from somewhere above Serbia (I think).

I asked for a cup of cappuccino: 

And some cookies:

With 2 hours and 40 minutes left in flight, Vishal came by again and asked if I wanted breakfast.  Why not?  So the table was set again.

I started with a small bowl of Greek yogurt.

More coffee:

Then I had the smoked Salmon bagel.  It was a good, fresh breakfast.

With roughly 45 minutes left in flight, the captain announced we were beginning to start our descent.

As one last snack, a few pieces of chocolate.  Vishal stopped by before landing to thank me for flying Qatar and to apologize for the rushed service (I actually quite appreciated it since it let me sleep more).  Molly also stopped by to thank each passenger.

Soon, Doha's skyline was in sight.

I've never been to Doha before and thought it was quite an impressive sight.

We touched down at 4:33pm local time and was at our gate 5 minutes later.

Qatar Immigration Lounge

After deplaning and heading to immigration–first and business class passengers can take a left instead of getting in the immigration queues.

This takes you to the large and empty premium immigration lounge.  You can get a coffee or drink here before going through (but the arrivals lounge has more options).

Plenty of space if you want to wait around–but why wait here?

Here is the aforementioned drink station.

I didn't want to wait before getting to my hotel, so I skipped the arrivals lounge.