Introduction
Hello! This is the second report on my trip to Sweden and Finland.The itinerary is as shown below.
SIN → DOH | QR943 | A359 | Click Here |
DOH → ARN | QR171 | A359 | You are Here |
HEL → DOH | QR308 | A320 | Click Here |
DOH → SIN | QR944 | A35K | Click Here |
Transit
After arriving from Singapore, I had only around an hour to make it to my second flight so I had to run to get from concourse C to concourse A. Walking though HIA, I must say the airport does look really amazing although the air con (especially in concourse A) is a bit weak.
Reached the gate with some time to spare. It is interesting to see that they sit passengers by boarding groups although not many people seem to follow the guidelines. Boarding was announced soon after and the gate cleared pretty fast.
Take Off
Boarding Qatar's newest A350-900. This aircraft is equipped with the new Qsuite and new economy class. Pillow and blankets are available on the seat and the legroom is pretty spacious. Amenity kit was also given out which includes eyeshade, ear plugs, toothbrush set and socks. The adjustable headrest also helps in sleeping but one thing I found odd about the seat was behind the power socket (grey bar below IFE - check 4th pic) is actually empty so I could not put my phone there while charging meaning I need to put it on the tray table.
Timelapse of takeoff from doha
Cruise
Soon after takeoff, lunch is served. On this flight there were 3 choices available.
1) Chicken Piccata with tomato salad
2) Braised Lamb Stew
3) Casarecce pasta in creamed cheese and spinach sauce
I choose the chicken option and got a coke to go with it. While the chicken had some taste to it, the rest of the main course was rather tasteless. The cake however was really nice. The meal also came with some chocolate( kitkats and another brand i never heard of). The kitkat was nice but the other one had a weird texture to it and I did not finish it. What i really liked about the meal was that Qatar Airways provided us with 3 choices instead of the usual 2.
Really nice view during the flight
I slept through the remainder of the flight and thus missed the movie snacks service which (as I later found out) is simply a bag of chips. Also out of curiosity, in what position do you sleep in when on flights? I noticed on this flight that there is a huge variety of sleeping positions including reclining their seats, leaning on windows, resting their head on the tray table or finding an empty row. Please comment below to tell me.
Landing
Here's a timelapse of the landing into Arlanda Airpot.
Finally arrived in Stockholm. Immigration and baggage delivery took some time but it was still acceptable. I must say however that I really appreciate how close the bus stop for buses to city centre is to the exit. FYI the Flygbussarna is a really cheap and easy way for you to get to the city centre.
Hi Axy2002,
Thanks for this quick look at economy on Qatar.
What’s the WiFi-like logo next to the power outlet on the seat? Is it WiFi, or is it advertising something by RFID? Or something else altogether?
IFE screen looks nice — how was the selection?
I’m surprised the meal looks a bit lackluster. I know this is economy, but this QR.. I figured they’d be on the “somewhat premium” tip even in the back. No second meal service on this flight, other than the “movie snack” you slept through?
Love the wing shot with that sharky winglet.
Sleep position in economy: Pillow against window, head against pillow, slumping to the side. If I don’t get a window seat? Perish the thought!
Hi hometoyyz, thank you for the comment.
I'm not too sure what the WiFi-like logo is but I guess it might be for payments using credit card.
The IFE is really nice and responsive and there is a wide variety of movies and TV. That said, it would certainly be nicer if there were more episodes for each TV
series.
The meal service on this flight does leave a lot to be desired especially compared to the first flight I took from Singapore where the meal was a lot more appetizing.
And yes I fully agree with your last statement.
"The IFE is really nice and responsive and there is a wide variety of movies and TV. That said, it would certainly be nicer if there were more episodes for each TV
series."
- Oh my goodness... this is a major pet peeve of mine. Who decided to only license 4 episodes of a show for a given month, especially on planes that do longhaul routes? Give me a full season and let me dive into something that I wouldn't get a chance to watch otherwise. And start from episodes 1, please. I may not have flown with you last month, and I don't really have any interest in joining a season 6 episodes in!
Okay... rant over. I'll go cool off now.
Hi AXY2002, thanks for sharing this next report in the series. The QR A350 offers a solid product. The wider seats alone over the 787s make for a more comfortable ride. Too bad the meal wasn't that great--the options sounded good though, especially for Economy.
I'm guessing it might be a typo in the routing--is it supposed to say A330? Or are QR really running A320s on HEL-DOH...seems a little long for an A320, but they do send them on some longer 6 hour-ish flights so it wouldn't be totally crazy I guess.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi KévinDC, thank you for the comment.
Indeed Qatar Airways does offer very good choices for economy flights but the quality does vary a lot. But maybe it just happens that the choice I choose was not particularly well done.
Qatar Airways does run the A320 on one of the flights to Helsinki but I think that because more people visit Finland in the winter hence they upgrade the aircraft to a widebody nearer to Christmas.