Review of Qatar Airways flight from Beijing to Doha in Business

Well… this trip was already not off to a great start.

The day before departure, I checked my booking and realized the aircraft had been changed. And yep, the Qsuite was gone. Instead, Qatar Airways swapped it to their old 2-2-2 business class cabin. Luckily, my second flight from Doha to San Francisco was still in Qsuite. If that one had been downgraded too, I probably would've gone into nuclear fusion by now.

But I really can't complain too much, because this ticket was EXTREMELY cheap. Beijing to Doha to San Francisco, around 24 hours on the plane in total, for only around 12,300 RMB (1,814.98USD) one way. This was literally around the same price as a one-way Cathay Pacific premium economy ticket from Beijing to San Francisco. And you guys have probably heard of ZIPAIR, the airline known for its cheap business-class tickets. Well, I checked their price for the same date, and guess what? It was more expensive than Qatar.

This trip was also a big milestone for me. This was my first time leaving the country completely by myself. Technically, I was meeting up with my dad in the States, but getting there? All by myself.

So yeah, a Qsuite downgrade, a ridiculously cheap ticket, and my first solo international trip. 

⬇️Here's how it went⬇️

LANGFANG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Qatar Airways operates from Daxing Airport instead of Capital Airport, which for me was a pretty big con. My house is literally only around 5 km from PEK in a straight line, while PKX is on the complete opposite side of Beijing. The drive from my house to Daxing took almost two hours 😭

And if you guys didn't know, part of Daxing Airport is actually located in Langfang, a city in Hebei Province. So yeah, after almost two hours in the car, welcome to "Langfang International Airport".

Besides the long car ride, this airport is literally 1000000x better than Capital Airport. Everything is new, there's tons of light, and the whole terminal just feels so much nicer.

There's even a machine where you can get a free lighter! Probably used to belong to someone else before security took it away, but hey, free lighter I guess.

Since I had a business class ticket, I was able to skip the long check-in lines and head straight to the business class counter. I got my boarding pass in no time and was ready to go.

There were also quite a lot of CCP and communist symbols around the airport, like this one.

My mom walked with me all the way to security, and this was where we said goodbye. And just like that, my first solo international trip officially started.

Same as PEK, there was no priority security lane here. But luckily, the line moved pretty quickly, and I was through in no time.

After security, it was time to go through customs. Something I really like about PKX is that you don't have to take a train to get there. It's literally just a short bridge, which is so much better than PEK Terminal 3.

Customs went extremely smoothly. There weren't many people, so I got through pretty quickly. I thought I'd have to show the officer my parental consent form since I'm still 16, but nope, they didn't say anything. They literally just let me go.

CHINA SOUTHERN LOUNGE

So I was literally walking towards the escalator down to the gates, and I thought I'd have to walk a bit to get to the lounge. But just as I was about to step onto the escalator, I saw the entrance. It was literally right next to the customs counters. 

No extra walks, YAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!

The lounge had a good amount of seating, plenty of food and drink options, and it wasn't crowded at all. I guess that's because my flight was pretty much the only one using the lounge at that time.

For my first round, I grabbed some chow mein, beef, rice, cheese, pickled vegetables, and some fruit. For drinks, I got a Coke, a Sprite, and some osmanthus sour plum drink (桂花酸梅汤). The chow mein was actually really good, and the sour plum drink was surprisingly good too. It's definitely one of my favorite drinks from now on. The only downside was the utensils. They were all plastic, which made it feel less premium.

For my second round, I got some chicken soup. It was also really good.

For my final round, I got some Sachima (沙琪玛), a traditional Chinese sweet snack made from fried dough strips and syrup, more sour plum drink, and a bottle of water. Surprisingly, the sour plum drink didn't get taken away by security in Doha, and I successfully brought it all the way to the States.

BOARDING

Alright, after about 2 hours, it was almost time for boarding. And in return for the lounge being so close to customs, my gate was all the way at the end of the international concourse, which meant a pretty long walk.

There's a small exhibit right after getting out of the lounge.

walkwalkwalkwalkwalk.

Alright, here she is! A7-BAB in the oneworld livery.

I had access to the business class boarding lane, so boarding was pretty quick.

Here's a Vietjet A320 right next to A7-BAB heading to SGN.

Here's my seat, 6K. It was supposed to be SUITE 10A, but now it's just SEAT 6K 😭

When I got to my seat, I was actually so surprised that the flight attendant serving my side was Chinese. We even had a small chat, and he was super nice. A few moments later, he came back and handed me a bag with a pair of pajamas and slippers inside.

Yes, this seat is old and ugly, but WOW, just look at how much legroom I have!

And I have with four windows instead of the usual two in most business class products these days.

On the side counter, there was a towel waiting for me. But instead of the usual hot towel service, Qatar gave out single-use towels from Diptyque. They smelled really good though.

If you open the lid underneath where the towel was placed, you'll find a small storage compartment along with a bottle of water.

There's a slightly bigger compartment on the side, where you can also find the menu.

One annoying thing though, the blue light inside the compartment cannot be turned off, which was really annoying when trying to sleep.

Here's the menu.

They have a lot of drink options to choose from.

There's another storage area on the side, but it's a little smaller. This is also where the noise-canceling headphones are stored.

These headphones were good quality.

There's also more storage space located in front of the seat.

Power ports are located at the bottom of the seat.

On the right armrest, you'll find the seat controls. This seat also has a massage function. But how does it feel? Well… it felt like I was sitting in a car going at high speed over multiple speed bumps.

On the left armrest, you'll find the remote control for the IFE, which is extremely outdated.

Above that, there's a reading light and a privacy divider that's literally just a decoration.

The tray table is HUGE!

Every passenger in Qatar business class gets an extra pillow, and the best part is they actually let you take it home!

Alright, moving on to the IFE. The screen was a good size and surprisingly responsive, especially considering how old this product is. There was also a lot of content to choose from, and they even had a special section for FIFA.

Two downsides though:

1. The IFE screen was really far away from my seat, so it was hard to control using the touchscreen, especially when the seatbelt was fastened.

2. The flight map was🤮🤮🤮. It was extremely outdated, not interactive at all, and you couldn't choose different views or modes. It just automatically switched between them. 

Here's my welcome drink, I got the lemon mint. And this was really good.

After the doors closed, I got a pretty nice surprise. The seat next to me was empty!

I thought someone would be sitting there because there was already an amenity kit placed on the seat. But nope, nobody showed up. More space for me 😃

After that, we started taxiing. It took a pretty long time, and eventually, we taxied into the void and finally took off.

WC

The seatbelt signs turned off pretty quickly after takeoff. So, here's the lavatory.

The lavatory was really spacious and super clean, and the cabin crew had already lowered the toilet seat cover before anyone even used it. 

There's also some amenities.

Unlike most airlines, the toothbrush wasn't in the amenity kit. Instead, it was in the lavatory for everyone to use. This reminded me of Singapore Airlines.

They also had wet wipes for disinfecting the toilet seat. First time ever seeing that on a plane.

I think this is probably one of the best airplane lavatorys I've ever been in.

When I got out of the lavatory, before I even made it back to my seat, the purser came over and started talking to me. She noticed that I was only 16 and told me that if I needed anything during the flight, I could just ask the crew. She was Chinese too, which was also pretty surprising to me.

SOME MORE FREE STUFF

Alright, here's the amenity kit. It's from Diptyque.

I was actually pretty surprised because from the YouTube videos I'd watched, the Qatar flights that don't depart from Doha get a small box instead of this actual pouch.

Inside, you get an eye mask, socks, earplugs, facial mist, lotion, lip balm… and of course, a completely useless piece of paper.

LIGHT DINNER

Alright, time for dinner no.2. They first brought me a Coke with ice and a slice of lemon, along with some mixed nuts.

About 20 minutes later, the crew came back, set up my table, and served some bread with butter.

They also put a little fake candle on the table, which was a really nice touch.

They also had a choice of different olive oils. I went with the tomato chili one, and wow, it was probably the best olive oil I've ever had.

A few minutes later, here came the main course. I went with the grilled prawns with garlic and ginger chili oil. They also had a few condiments to choose from, and I picked Tabasco.

It tasted pretty good, but I still think the Chinese airlines do a better job with the main course.

See that purple glass in the top right corner? That's for water. The crew came by and asked if I wanted still or sparkling, then poured it into the glass for me. I chose still, and I felt like I was in a restaurant.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

After the meal service, it was already 3 AM, and I was getting pretty tired. I headed to the lavatory to change into the pajamas. They were from The White Company and also had an F1 logo on them. They were actually pretty comfortable.

When I got back to my seat, the crew started making my bed. The blanket was really comfortable, and even though the legrest was a little wobbly, it was still super comfortable because my legs weren't restricted at all. I'd say that's the biggest advantage of this seat. 

The bed was actually more comfortable than the Qsuite. The footwell in Qsuite is small; my legs were literally trapped in there. On this seat, even though it's much older, I had way more room to stretch out.

The only annoying thing was that the cabin lights were on the whole time. Like, it was literally the middle of the night, and the cabin was still bright. Good thing they provided a blindfold, otherwise I probably would've had a really hard time falling asleep.

BREAKFAST

A few hours later, I woke up. And look at this beautiful sunrise!

Breakfast service started a few minutes later. Usually, I don't eat breakfast so I can get more sleep, but I'm on a plane, so I gotta get the most out of it. Plus, I still had another 16-hour flight after this one, so yeah, might as well eat some.

So yeah, they first set up the table, served some bread with butter and jam, and brought out the watermelon juice that I ordered before takeoff.

Next up, starters. I was actually surprised that they even had appetizers for breakfast. I got the Greek yogurt with berry compote and toasted nut granola, and it tasted really good.

For the main course, I got the hand-rolled tomato omelet with grilled chicken. The flight attendant also brought out some condiments for me to choose from again, and I went with ketchup.

The crew also came around with water again, with the same two choices: still or sparkling. I chose still again, but this time it was served in a regular glass instead of the purple one.

It tasted good, but yeah, definitely not the best breakfast I've had on a plane.

After meal service, the crew handed out some mints.

WAIT… I ACTUALLY GOT CONNECTED?

There was still some time to kill before landing, so I decided to try out the Starlink Wi-Fi. Before the flight, I did some research and found that I needed a Qatar Privilege Club account to get free Wi-Fi; otherwise, it would cost 10 USD. But I couldn't register because you need to be at least 18 years old :(

Since I had nothing else to do, I tried connecting anyway. And I was really surprised. I connected straight to the Wi-Fi, and there wasn't even a portal page asking me to pay or log in. I tried scrolling through TikTok, watching YouTube, and even had a short video call with my mom. And somehow, it actually worked.

This Wi-Fi was literally 1000x faster than the Wi-Fi at my house. I have no idea if it was a bug or what happened, but yeah… thanks Qatar.

🛬DOH

Before we started descending, the crew came around and handed out actual hot towels this time.

Landing was pretty interesting. It felt like the plane was about to land in the water.

While taxiing to the gate, almost every plane I saw was Qatar Airways. The only non-Qatar Airways aircraft I saw was a DHL 767.

I had a really nice view during the taxi. Lots of good stuff to see.

When I got out of the jet bridge, the purser talked to me again and asked how the flight was. We had a quick chat again, she was really nice throughout the flight.

Here's one final look at A7-BAB before leaving. Also, those dots on the windows were really annoying.

Alright, that's it for the first leg.

To be continued… the Doha to San Francisco report is coming soon.