I’ve flown Qatar Airways several times now and have found that service seems to range from fine to extraordinary. On my recent flight from Zagreb to Doha I experienced truly extraordinary service. The great service combined with excellent food and comfortable seats made this daytime flight one of my favorite flights ever.
Review
My flight was from Zagreb, Croatia to Doha, Qatar. This was a 5 hour daytime flight. I had booked this as part of a larger award: this flight (Zagreb to Doha on Qatar Airways business class) then onward on Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur for a total of 75,000 Qatar Avios plus about $210. You can find my review of the Malaysia Airlines flight here.
Business class seats on this flight were arranged 2×2 and there was virtually no privacy. As a result, the A320 wouldn’t be ideal for an overnight flight, but it was great for this daytime flight which departed Zagreb around 3:45PM. Seats were big and comfortable, they lie flat for napping, and there was an enormous amount of legroom. There were only 4 or 5 passengers in business class and so everyone had two seats for themselves. I had booked the aisle seat, but quickly moved to the window for a little extra privacy and to see out the window.
The food on the flight was decadent and delicious. I ordered the sesame seed tuna tataki starter, the Lobster Thermidor main, and the dark chocolate praline galette dessert. All three were terrific.
The thing that really set this flight apart for me was the service. It was spectacular. The service on this flight ranks in the top 3 that I’ve ever experienced (edged out only by the service I experienced flying Etihad First Apartments, and Singapore Suites). The top-notch service began as soon as I entered the plane and a flight attendant offered to put my carry-on up in the bin. And it only got better from there. The purser soon introduced herself and asked if there was anything she could do to make the flight comfortable. For example, she said, we normally begin meal service as soon as we’re in the air, but we can serve it to you any time you’d like. I had eaten a big lunch and so I asked to eat at 6PM local time (7PM in Doha) instead of around 4:15PM. No problem! The flight attendants checked back a few times to make sure I didn’t change my mind, but then served the meal exactly at the time requested. This is just one example of the exemplary service on this flight. Of course, one should expect great service when there are only 4 or 5 business class passengers and two dedicated flight attendants to that cabin (plus another who helped out occasionally).
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Incredible service
- Excellent food
- Very comfortable lie-flat seats
Cons
- 2×2 seating means that on a full flight not everyone will have direct aisle access.
- No privacy (unlike what is found in many modern business class products).
- Movies were heavily edited to remove swear words
Photos
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
I admit it looks nice, but at the risk of starting a knife-fight, I have zero interest in flying Qatar.
Actually, a sanitised soundtrack sounds good to me, at least as a language option. I’d rather not hear profanity, it’s jarring.
I completely agree. I find little value and no authenticity just because something has profane language
Ditto. Eloquence and vulgarity are fundamentally mutually exclusive, and I applaud Qatar for decency. I loved listening to the Qur’an in QSuites. It’s a Muslim country; alcohol, nudity, and swearing are not acceptable to many, if not most, of the locals, and they have no need or desire to conform to Western “values” of expression. It’s not restrictive, but constructive.