Review of Qatar Airways flight from Doha to San Francisco in Business

After a pretty good first flight from Beijing, it was finally time for the one I had been looking forward to the most: Doha to San Francisco.

This was also the flight that was still scheduled to have Qsuite. After finding out my first flight had been swapped to the old 2-2-2 business class cabin, I was really hoping nothing would change this time. Luckily, it was a Qsuite-equipped A350.

This was also my longest flight ever, at almost 16 hours. So yeah… plenty of time to see if Qsuite really lives up to all the hype.

⬇️Here's how it went⬇️

A QUICK LOOK AROUND DOH

After getting off the plane, it was time to make my way to the transfer area. It was quite a long walk, but I didn't mind.

At security, there was a dedicated lane for First and Business Class passengers. It was super quick, and I got through in no time.

After security, it was finally time to find the lounge. While finding it, I got to see a little more of the airport, and wow… this airport is really nice.

And of course, here's the famous yellow bear. Definitely one of the must-see spots in the airport.

AL MOURJAN LOUNGE

Turns out… I was being stupid. I walked all the way around the airport, only to realize the lounge was literally right above the security area.

Wow. It was HUGE. Definitely the biggest lounge I've ever been to. It looked really nice, and there were so many food options to choose from.

😍😍😍

I headed up to the second floor of the lounge, where all the food was. A waiter greeted me and walked me to a seat. There was already a Diptyque towel sitting there, the same one they had on the flight.

They also asked what I wanted to drink, and I ordered orange juice. The whole experience honestly felt like I was in a restaurant, not an airport lounge.

There were already a lot of food options available at the buffet section, but there was also a menu where you could order from. You just scan a QR code to view the menu.

So, here's breakfast number two. I already had breakfast number one on the previous flight from Beijing, but yeah… why not have another one?

I got some ham, cheese, and yogurt from the buffet section, plus the scrambled eggs from the menu. Everything tasted really good.

BOARDING

The gate wasn't too close, but it wasn't too far either. It was a pretty easy walk. The only thing was… it was crowded.

Seriously? Another security check?

I literally just went through one at the transfer area. I had to say goodbye to the can of Coke I got from the lounge. Good thing there was a dedicated lane for Business Class, so at least it was pretty quick.

Here's what the gate area looked like inside. There was still some time to kill before boarding started.

Here she is! A7-ANI, the A350-1000 that was taking me all the way to the States.

This was also my first time flying on an A350-1000, so I was really excited.

Boarding was really quick. Business Class had priority boarding, so there wasn't much waiting around. Soon enough, it was time to get on the plane.

YESSSSSS!!!!!!! QSUITE!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much, Qatar Airways, for not changing the aircraft to the 2-2-2 777's. I've been wanting to try this product out for years.

Here's my seat… wait no, my SUITE for this flight: 7A.

It's one of the backward-facing seats. First time trying this layout.

The IFE screen was huge, and there was a big counter next to it where I could put my stuff. The Diptyque amenity kit and towel were already placed there too.

The towel was a single-use one, not the usual hot towel service, but it smelled really good.

Below the big counter, there's a small storage space where you can find the menus. The seat controls, power outlet, headphone port, card reader, and IFE remote are also located there.

Unlike my previous flight from Beijing to Doha, the menu on this flight was World Cup themed.

There were a lot of food and drink options to choose from.

Even the second pillow was World Cup themed.

And yep, you could actually take it back home!

Under this HUGE armrest, you'll find a bigger storage space. Inside, there was a bottle of water, an airsickness bag, and the noise-canceling headphones.

These headphones were good quality.

You can also lift the armrest up.

Above that, there's a reading light and a coathook.

This plane has individual airvents! pretty uncommon in a350's.

A few minutes later, the crew came around and handed out a bag with slippers and pajamas from The White Company. And it had the F1 logo on it!

For this flight, I didn't change into the pajamas. Here's a picture from the previous flight instead. They were pretty comfortable.

Oh, and here's my welcome drink: lemon mint. Better than orange juice.

After the welcome drink, I thought that was it… but nope, there's more??!!

They brought out Arabic dates and Arabic coffee. The dates were amazing, but the coffee… yeah, I don't know about that one. It literally tasted like Chinese medicine. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Moving on to the IFE.

The screen was really big, and there's even an HDMI port underneath. I guess you could connect something like a Nintendo Switch if you wanted to. There were lots of content options, and the screen was very responsive.

But when I tried opening the flight map, it kept crashing. I finally got it to work after we reached cruising altitude. Also, there was no exterior camera :(

Unlike most business class products I've been on, the remote on this one isn't like a "gaming console." It's more like an Android phone, but it functions the same.

I tried launching the flight map on the remote, and it didn't crash. But it was just stuck on "please wait while flight data is being accessed."

ARRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!

HUGE tray table.

Here's the biggest downside: the footrest.

It's tiny. And in bed mode, my feet felt trapped. Honestly, the old 2-2-2 seat from my previous flight did this part better.

Same as my previous flight, the purser came over to find me. Since I was 16 and flying alone, we had a quick chat.

But this time, the purser was Korean, not Chinese.

BYE BYE DOHA!

Because I was on a rear-facing seat, pushback felt like taxiing, and taxiing felt like pushback. 

While taxiing, I saw the plane I was on for the previous flight: A7-BAB! Wow. Seeing the same aircraft that brought me from Beijing to Doha was cool. Small world at the airport.

Takeoff was interesting. Sitting backwards made it feel completely different. Instead of the usual feeling of the plane moving forward, it felt like everything was moving away from me. Definitely a weird but cool experience.

Doha's Skyline.

Finally, I could close the door.

Wow! the privacy was on another level. This was my first time trying a suite product, and having my own little space felt really cool. It honestly felt less like a seat and more like a small room in the sky.

The crew then brought over the pineapple margarita that I ordered, along with some nuts.

I already ate most of the nuts before taking the picture, but yeah… both were really good. The drink was probably one of the best I've ever had on an airplane.

WC

Before showing you breakfast number three, let's take a look at the lavatory.

I really liked the wooden panels inside. It gave the whole place a really premium feeling.

Some amenities.

The toothbrush wasn't in the amenity kit. Instead, it was in the lavatory for passengers to use. This reminded me of Singapore Airlines.

Wet wipes for disinfecting the toilet seat.

And there's even a place to dispose needles. First time seeing that on a plane.

The business class lavatories in the front had a window.

The Business Class lavatory was pretty much the same as the one on my previous flight, but I preferred the previous one. It felt more spacious.

:(

When I got back to my seat, I tried connecting to the Starlink Wi-Fi.

On my previous flight from Beijing, there was some weird bug that somehow let me use it for free. This time, the portal page actually loaded, so I thought I had a chance… and even worse, "Service Unavalible".

I checked a few more times throughout the flight, and it never changed.

Nooooooooooooooo.

BREAKFAST NUMBER THREE

For starters, I went with the Greek yogurt with berry compote and toasted nut granola. It was the same one I had on my previous flight, and it was just as good.

Since I was flying Qatar Airways, I decided to try something local and ordered the Qatari breakfast with pita bread.

Yeah… I instantly regretted that decision. It tasted horrible.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

After breakfast, one of the crew came over and made my bed.

The bedding was really comfortable, but the bed itself… not so much. Just like I mentioned earlier, the footwell was tiny, so my legs felt completely trapped.

Oh, and here's the amenity kit from Diptyque. It came with lip balm, lotion, a facial mist, earplugs, socks, an eye mask, and a and a completely useless piece of paper.

SNACK TIME

A few hours later, I got hungry again, so I ordered the Match Day Munch Beef Nachos from the "Fan Favorites" section of the menu, along with a White Blossom from the mocktail section.

Both were really good.

LUNCH

With around 3 hours left before landing, it was time for lunch.

For starters, I ordered the Arabic mezze. Just like the Qatari breakfast earlier, this one wasn't good either. 

And for the drink, I got an iced Americano. That one was actually good. definitely better than the Arabic coffee from earlier.

Here's the main course: the Qatar Chicken Mashkool.

This one was actually really good. Easily 100x better than the Qatari breakfast I had earlier.

And finally, dessert.

I got the Golden Football Jersey, a special World Cup dessert. It came with gianduja mousse, hazelnut praline crunch, raspberry sorbet… and there was even edible gold leaf on top!

Y-U-M-M-Y!

This was the best dessert I've ever had on an airplane.

🛬SFO

Before starting descent, I thought the meal service was already over. but nope, Qatar had one more thing.

The crew came around and handed out a small box of chocolates. And of course, it was FIFA themed. The chocolate tasted really good too.

Qatar really didn't want to stop with the surprises until the very end.

They also came around with hot towels. And this time, it was the actual hot towel service, not the single-use Diptyque towels from the beginning of the flight or the lounge.

Some beautiful views during descent and landing.

While taxiing to the gate, there was still a lot of good stuff to see outside.

After taking all the free stuff from both flights, my bag was literally bulging 😂

Seeing this sign just felt unreal.

After such a long journey, I finally made it to the States, all by myself!

Customs went really smoothly. I was one of the first people in line, and the officer didn't even ask for my parental consent form.

But in return, even though I was one of the first people to get to baggage claim, everyone's bags still took forever to come out.

A BAD START, AND A BAD ENDING

Alright, well… that's it for this report.

This trip definitely had a rough start. The Qsuite swap on the Beijing-Doha flight was a big disappointment. And the ending wasn't much better either… I forgot my dental retainers on the plane, and unfortunately the crew couldn't find them. So I had to order a new one, and it took about a week to ship it to me.

But hey, at least I had all my IDs with me the whole time 😂