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Review: Qatar Airways Business Class DOH-LAX

2/26/2016

1 Comment

 
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Guest Reviewer: Chris

An avid traveler and obsessive points and miles hound, Chris is my travel buddy extraordinaire. I love him for his enthusiasm, his sense of adventure, and his many lounge access credit cards. Hope you enjoy his perspective!

Review: Qatar Airways Business Class BLR-DOH
Review: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class DOH-LAX


Qatar Airways #739
Doha (DOH) - Los Angeles (LAX)
Thursday, February 4th, 2016
7:45 AM - 1:10 PM, 16 hours 25 minutes
777-200LR: Seat 6J (Business Class)

After having an enjoyable time on my 4-hour flight from Bangalore to Doha, I was excited to spend more time in Qatar Airways business class during my much longer onward flight to Los Angeles.

I left the Al Mourjan Business Lounge about 10 minutes before boarding was scheduled to begin and found the gate a short 5-minute walk away. To my disappointment, flights from Doha to the US have to go through a secondary security check at the gate, which is pretty much the same as the initial security check, except they make you take your shoes off. There were quite a few people in line, but thankfully there was a separate checkpoint for business class and elite passengers. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit groggy at 7 AM, and what I thought was the premium line was actually the line for a different gate, where a flight to Boston was about to close. Even though they checked my boarding pass, they let me through, and I was about to step onto the jetbridge when they realized my mistake. I had to make a walk of shame back to my actual gate while the employees giggled at me.


After clearing the security checkpoint, I sat down in the waiting area, and a short while later boarding was announced for business class passengers and those requiring extra time. I joined the boarding line, but it was a madhouse. Instead of an orderly queue, it was just a mass of people pushing from all directions. At one point, I had about a foot of space between me and the person in front of me, and a middle-aged couple came up from behind and squeezed themselves into the gap. I couldn't believe it. I don't support the death penalty, but I'll make an exception for queue-jumpers.

Eventually I made it onboard the plane, and found the 777-200LR cabin to be almost identical to the one on my previous flight on the 777-300ER. I found my seat, 6J, an aisle seat on the right-hand side, and was offered a pre-departure beverage and a choice of a hot or cold towel. Unlike my previous flight, on this flight they did serve champagne on the ground, so I chose that. I also chose a hot towel this time, so that I could compare it with the cold towel I chose on my last flight. They're very similar except one is hot and one is cold.
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Qatar Airways Business Class 777-200LR Cabin
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Qatar Airways Business Class 777-200LR Cabin
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Qatar Airways Business Class 777-200LR Cabin
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Qatar Airways Business Class 777-200LR Cabin
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Qatar Airways Business Class 777-200LR Cabin
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Qatar Airways Business Class Pre-Departure Beverage and Hot Towel
When the "boarding completed" announcement was made, I noticed the cabin was half empty and no-one was sitting in the seat next to me, so I switched to the window seat to give myself a bit more privacy.

The seat itself is the same as the one on my previous flight. It's pretty comfortable for lounging, and there is plenty of leg room, though I find it doesn't quite go all the way to lie-flat. Well, maybe it does for a normal-weight human, but the leg rest definitely sagged for me. Each seat has a water bottle compartment where a water bottle was already waiting, which I appreciated.

Before takeoff, I was given an amenity kit, a set of pyjamas, and slippers. The amenity kit was Giorgio Armani branded and contained lip balm, cologne, a large bottle of aftershave balm, ear plugs, and an eye mask. Qatar Airways has two sizes of pyjamas: S/M and L/XL, and the flight attendant recommended the larger size, which I agreed was a reasonable choice.
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Qatar Airways Business Class Amenity Kit
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Qatar Airways Business Class Amenity Kit Contents
Next, I was offered a wine list, dining menu, and a choice of newspapers. The flight attendant explained how Qatar Airways has a dine-on-demand concept, where there are no fixed meal times, and you can just press the call button whenever you want to eat something. While I'd experienced dine-on-demand before in first class, this was the first time I'd seen it in business class, so kudos to Qatar Airways for offering it!
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Qatar Airways Business Class Wine List
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Qatar Airways Business Class Wine List
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Qatar Airways Business Class Wine List
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Qatar Airways Business Class Wine List
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Qatar Airways Business Class Wine List
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Qatar Airways Business Class Beverage List
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Qatar Airways Business Class Dining Menu
Takeoff was smooth, and after reaching cruising altitude a flight attendant came by ask if I wanted anything to drink. I ordered a cappuccino, which was served with some room temperature nuts. I was also offered a mint (a Smint®) and a hot towel.
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Qatar Airways Business Class Cappuccino
While I was enjoying my cappuccino, I decided to check out the entertainment system. The screen is large and bright, and the headphones are noise-cancelling and pretty comfortable. There were plenty of movies to choose from, and I started watching The Grand Budapest Hotel. It quickly became clear that this movie was way too weird for my liking, so I switched to watching a few episodes of Departures, then watched a documentary about how tech workers are ruining San Francisco. It was an especially interesting documentary considering that I'm a tech worker in San Francisco.
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Qatar Airways Business Class 777-200LR Entertainment System
At this point I was feeling a bit hungry, so I pressed the call button. Within seconds, a flight attendant showed up, and I ordered the chicken salad (after spending two weeks in India, I was craving some lighter fare). It arrived a few minutes later, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The salad was served with a pastry bowl, from which I might have helped myself to my second pain au chocolat of the day. I also ordered another cappuccino, because I can never get enough of those.
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Qatar Airways Business Class Chicken Salad
After my meal, I was feeling a bit tired, so I pressed the call button again and asked the flight attendant to convert my seat into a bed. In the meantime, I headed to the lavatory to change into my pyjamas. The pyjamas were extremely comfortable: they were made of cotton, super soft, and pretty lightweight.

I slept for about 6 hours, which is perhaps the longest I've ever slept uninterrupted on a plane. Upon waking up, I was feeling a bit hungry again, so I ordered a bowl of cereal (there's just something I love about eating cereal on a plane) and a peach smoothie. My bowl of Corn Flakes arrived in short order, and came with another bowl of pastries. I ordered my third cappuccino of the flight, and also helped myself to my third pain au chocolat of the day (are you starting to notice a trend?).
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Qatar Airways Business Class Corn Flakes
While eating my cereal, I started watching Space Jam for about half an hour until I realized that I must look like the biggest kid in the world. Here I am: a grown man, in my pyjamas, eating breakfast cereal and watching cartoons. So I decided to watch a few episodes of Travel Man instead.

After that, I changed to the interactive map, and noticed that the plane was directly above the North Pole. Pretty cool!
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Qatar Airways Interactive Map
I decided to sleep for a few more hours, and woke up about two hours before landing. It was at this point I discovered that a random shoe had appeared at my seat. I was very confused as to how it could have gotten there. The mystery of the shoe was never solved.
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Qatar Airways Mystery Shoe
I definitely have a sweet tooth, so I figured I couldn't leave this plane without trying the Ladurée dessert. I ordered it along with another cappuccino. This one wasn't served with a bowl of pastries, but that's probably a good thing. I definitely shouldn't be eating four pain au chocolats in one day. Anyway, the chocolate ganache was delicious, although I made the mistake of thinking the Ladurée label was edible. It was plastic.
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Qatar Airways Business Class Ladurée Dessert
After my dessert, I changed out of my pyjamas, and soon we were flying along the California coast. Before I knew it, we were landing at LAX.
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California Coast
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Landing at LAX
The 16.5 hours of my flight had flown by, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. While the Qatar Airways 777-200ER hard product is a bit dated, the soft product is top of its class - even better than I've experienced in first class on some airlines. The food was delicious and presented nicely, and the service was prompt and friendly. I would more than happily fly Qatar Airways business class again.

Cheers!
1 Comment
Ani
12/25/2019 07:37:04 am

Thanks for the help of the flight attendant. My husband and I very pleased with this airline. Very hospitable crew, They help everyone. Service is very good. Food is very good. Thank you for this airline

Reply



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