Review of Qatar Airways flight from Denpasar to Doha in Business

Intro

Bali was a marvelous time, filled with great family time, fantastic dinners, and some great therapy session. However, with the school year ever approaching, it was time to head back to the States. Ordinarily, one-way fares from Asia are relatively cheap in business compared to the other direction. Qatar was quoting 2400$ out of Jakarta to New York, but I had other plans. I was able to conjure up my number one sweet spot out of Bali to head to Egypt for a night. What a fantastic time this was going to be! 

The first of two legs onboard Qatar Airways would see me fly on the A350-1000 in Q-Suites from Denpasar to Doha. This is quite a unique flight as Qatar has configured a sub fleet of A350-1000s with only 6 rows of a business class totaling 24 seats. I was lucky enough to be on it for this report.

Seeing as I rank Qatar Airways as one of my top 2 business class products in the sky, I was very excited to fly on this bird over to Doha. However, it didn't quite turn out in the way I expected.

Let's get into it! 

Routing

How I Booked

I have tried to help people out by letting you know the sweet spots on some of these programs, but this might be one of the greatest redemptions that any program has. Americans categorize Asia as one, so the price of flying from Bangkok to Doha is the same as flying from Denpasar-Doha-Cairo. For some odd reason, AA doesn't put Cairo in the Africa category.

I was able to find space to fly Q-Suites on the A350-1000 from Denpasar to Doha and then the 777-300 from Doha to Cairo in First Class, all for 40K Advantage Miles. This also included access to the Al Safwa First Class Lounge in Doha. Talk about a bargain!

Award space is wide open a couple of weeks out, but especially out of Jakarta. This mileage fare can work even better for those who have the time as you can fly- Cairo- Doha (QR F)- Bangkok (QR F)- Tokyo (JL F) all for 50K Miles in First or 40K in Business. Although, I have only ever once been able to find availability for that😅.

Check-In

Bali has become especially crowded in the past 10 years, and due to that, a new International Terminal had to be opened. My driver and I from home shared some music as we headed to the airport on this rainy night. 

We arrived at the airport by 10 pm for our scheduled departure time of 12:10 am. Qatar offers a dedicated business class check-in right after you clear initial screening when entering the terminal. Within minutes, my bags were dropped off, and a matter of minutes later I was through immigration

I know, I know. I don't check bags ever. Well, Vietnam happened.

Premier Lounge (JAS)

Aside from the bathroom aspect of the lounge, I have thoroughly enjoyed my stays at the Premier Lounge at Denpasar Airport. If you head in here with the expectation of having a light bite before a flight, an ice-cold beer, and feeling a little bit hot (welcome to Bali), you won't be disappointed. The Premier Lounge certainly isn't up there with a contract lounge, and I certainly wouldn't recommend arriving at the airport early to check it out, but if you have access, it's not bad for an hour or two.

A solid 4 out of 5 stars. 

Boarding

Qatar Airways sends business class passengers to the Premier Lounge, which I have reviewed here. It's a decent place to spend a bit of time, but at the end of the day, it is a contract lounge.

Boarding commenced early at 11:20 pm, 50 minutes before departure, with business class passengers being able to board first from gate 5. 

The Seat/Cabin

Once onboard, no one was at the door to greet any of the passengers, which I found a bit odd. All of the crew were rushing around the galley, trying to prepare the cabin for departure.

Seats on all of the A350-1000s are configured in a 1-2-1 configuration. My ticketed seat was 3A, the third row on the port side of the aircraft. My advice for solo travelers would be to select a window seat in odd-numbered rows. For couples, select middle seats in odd-numbered rows as you'll be closer together. 

Let's take a look around!

The footwell was spacious enough, although there are certainly bigger in business I have seen (hey, it's not a measuring contest). 

There is a small chaise next to your seat, allowing for a bigger bed when in lie-flat mode. However, it also flips up for some additional storage compartment space if needed😉.

Lastly, a faux wood table was located closer to the aisle of the seat. This is perfect for storing drinks during take-off or other bit and bobs. A laptop kind of fits underneath it (mine does at 13 inches), a 15 inch certainly wouldn't.

Seat controls are laid out perfectly in a curvature manner, with all of the options you could think of. Beneath that is an international power socket, as well as a three-prong headphone jack. I'm not entirely sure if I like the headphone jack there, but it is what it is. Additionally, there is a touchscreen remote.

Doors are locked during takeoff, taxi, and landing for safety reasons. However, once you are in the air, the seat becomes a decently enclosed "suite." I noticed that no one was in the center seats of row 1 and asked the purser if I could move. She said, "Sure". YAYA!

Amenities/IFE

Amenities wise, Qatar Airways isn't the most extravagant in their offerings compared to other airlines. Qatar offers a singular blanket, which doesn't sound like much on the surface, but wow, is it comfy as heck? Two pillows were offered as well.

A Diptyque amenity kit was offered in a box, although the products far exceed other airlines. Additionally, a pair of noise-cancelling ORYX headphones were offered.

The Qatar Airways IFE is some of the best in the sky, with an amplitude of options and almost all of the Fast And Furious movies.

Heck, there is even an option to control the TV from your phone. That's something a little too tech-savvy for my liking.

Business Class passengers receive one hour of free wifi, but the wifi prices are reasonable at 10$ for the full flight. In terms of amenities and IFE, props to you, Qatar, as you shine brightly. However, it would be nice to see some sort of washbag as a collector's item to keep.

Lastly, Pajamas. On all of Qatar's long-haul flights, Pajamas are offered to business-class customers. While I didn't take a picture.this time, Needless to say, I have one too many pairs at home😅.

Departure

Service was interesting throughout the flight, and I wondered whether it was weather-related or something else. When I settled into my original seat, 3A, the cabin crew came around after about 10 minutes to offer us a pre-departure beverage. No names were mentioned or anything, which I found a bit odd.

I chose the Alexandra Rose Champagne by LP, a fantastic champagne which they seem to not serve anymore😒. 

Eventually my jacket was hung up.

Once I heard the boarding doors close at 11:45 pm, I headed to the galley and asked if I could move to the center seats in row 1. After some checking and a little bit of back and forth, they allowed it (as mentioned before)

Since I was now in the middle, there were no window views for the flight. At least the whole flight was at night, though… We ended up departing 18 minutes early, at 11:52 pm. 

Meal Service

Qatar Airways loads these red-eyes a bit differently to a daytime flight or a red-eye with an earlier departure. Below is what the menu and wine list for this flight looked like:

The food selection seems more like a heavy snack instead of a full meal, but still, some options appealed to me. The last time I flew Qatar Business was on the Jakarta to Doha 5 pm departure, and there was a full menu for that flight, interestingly. With that being said, the wine menu remained unchanged 😃.

My dinner (ish) was brought out about 30 minutes after takeoff. I opted for the panini to not feel as bloated before bed. It was definitely not what I had come to expect in Qatar, but it was still quite good. 

Night Night

Seeing as I know, Qatar Airways offers turndown service; I inquired if the flight attendants could make up my bed (I would do it, but they keep the mattress pads). They said to wait about 20 minutes, but eventually, they came around before that to make up this beautiful bed.

By this point, I was getting sleepy and decided to switch off my movie and get some rest. The seats on Qatar Airways are very, very comfortable. Coupled with a double bed, I snuck my feet into the adjacent seat's footrest and was able to sprawl out across the surface. Props here, Qatar. 

6 hours went by, and I slept like an absolute baby. An hour and a half until landing, I begrudgingly awoke from my slumber. I inquired about a morning mimosa, coffee, and the Beef Rendang for breakfast. The crew were happy to get it for me.

The mimosa was delicious, as Qatar uses freshly squeezed orange juice and good champagne. The Beef Rendang was good but a bit too spicy for me (I have no spice tolerance), and the coffee was excellent. All in all, a good breakfast. 

The Service

Sometimes, I write a section about service and other times; I just incorporate it into the review. For this flight, though, here are my observations.

Qatar usually has some of the best services in the sky, but everything felt very rushed as if the FAs were constantly playing catch up.

No welcome onboard and no thank you for flying with QR

The picture of the double bed was how it was made up.

Personally, I didn't mind as I enjoyed the flight very much in my cocoon (but for a flight report, it's important to show every aspect). However, there were just a couple of aspects that seemed out of the ordinary for Qatar Airways. Then again, I don't know the whole story, and I also understand that sometimes things happen since we are all human. 

Arrival

By 3:50 am, we were beginning our descent into Doha. Unfortunately, I have no landing pictures, seeing as I was in the middle.

We touched down 33 minutes ahead of schedule at 4:27 am local time. In the odd rows, passengers will be seated backward toward the tail end of the plane. Seeing as I grew up flying British Airways, it was quite fun to be doing it again.

The crew bid us passengers farewell, and it was time to go embark on a journey to find the Al Safwa First Class Lounge (stay tuned for that review).