Flights within the Gulf in premium cabins are a real treat, especially on Qatar Airways. That's because Qatar Airways flies many of their longhaul configured aircraft on short 30 minute flights around the Gulf. Where else in the world can you fly a longhaul configured 777 or 787 on a 30 minute flight? Beyond that,…
Continue reading: Review: Qatar Airways First Class 777 Doha To Abu Dhabi
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I'm so excited for this review simply because Le Meridien Abu Dhabi is up next. Guaranteed to be entertaining. I can't imagine anything positive being written 😛
I miss the days when Krug still made an appearance in regional First (or for that matter, any QR First now...) The hard product for these short flights is still unbeatable though! And the laduree...yum!
I love all these trip reports! I don't have the money to do everything you do, but I can do anything you do (if that makes sense). We usually take 2 nice trips a year and I read all your reports (and other bloggers) and it helps with routing decisions. Thanks.
I am supposed to go AUH-DOH and trying to decide if I should take Qatar or Etihad. Departing from AUH in C I would get the car service to the airport. Otherwise don't see any advantages to going Qatar. Though the service is nice it really doesn't matter to me on such a short flight as will be doing F on Qatar and Etihad both on A380.
"Where else in the world can you fly a longhaul configured 777 or 787 on a 30 minute flight?" Well, not a 777/787, but AC has a daily 767 flight (with flat beds) between Toronto (YYZ) and Ottawa (YOW) and vice versa, a 226 mile distance (vs. 200 miles DOH-AUH). It's basically for re-positioning and efficient fleet utilization, otherwise there would be a 767 on the ground at YOW for 7h between arriving from and departing to LHR.
CX routinely flies 3-class or even 4-class 77W (with true long-haul F, not this 2-2-2 so called F thing) on HKG-TPE, which clocks in 1:10 eastbound and maybe 1:30 westbound. Granted, it's longer than your 30min hop, but it's still a great experience for a really quick hop.
To follow up on @CP@YOW 's comment, the same can be said about YYZ to YUL, which is slightly longer but the same 70 minutes gate to gate, even less with favorable takeoff and landing runway positioning.
Some of those flights are operated by A330, B767, and on occasion B77W. I have flown the B767 from YYZ to YUL with lie-flat seats, full bar and even an afternoon snack consisting of nuts, smoked salmon and potato salad. Perhaps not as lavish at Qatar's spread, but considerably better than, say, MIA-YUL on AA departing after 8PM!
It is a special treat to have a wide-body on a short hop!
I'm with Peter - I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw the pax in the bus. I'm just hoping it was the guy in the back tee and shorts holding his backpack in his lap!! 😉
Who gets the BMW rides? As in what kind of passenger/what connection/what status - not who were the secret people getting into the cars.
Haha. The adorable old couple apparently didn't get the memo that we really don't get to use the term "oriental" to describe people anymore. That being said, they would probably be a hoot at Thanksgiving get-togethers.
I was looking at flights for a weekend in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi in february and almost all the flights both ways apart from maybe two were on A320 / A321's.
As for the BMW's, maybe they do something similar in Abu Dhabi like the Al Maha service in Doha where you can pay to be collected, whisked through immigration and have someone collect your bags for you. I remember seeing this service in the old Doha airport where a BMW would collect you from the remote stand.
@lucky - flew this short hop DXB-DOH on A350 in F - it was like a sports car on take off! Unbelievable that they complete that level of service in that time - our flight was 40 minutes and they still managed it all!! Our crew were performing at a very high standard though as seat 1A had it's favourite occupant...Mr Al Akbar!
@Neil..i think they were from the Royal Family. I flew 2 months ago CDG - DOH and shared the F cabin with 4 members of the Royal Family and they got a very special treatment.
Sorry..misunderstood your question:) I think the pick-Up has nothing to do with QR Status, as it seems a Special VIP Service outside Doha for Royal Family members etc
There's a couple of short haul flights in Europe that use long haul business class planes that I know of, both in and out of Madrid. LAN fly between MAD and FRA as a continuation of the flight from SCL, it's a 787 as well. also Iberia has flat beds on either their A340 or A330 between MAD and LHR on the late afternoon flight (around 1830 from LHR).
Obviously it's not gonna be as good as flying with Qatar on these flights but maybe a way to avoid the awful Intra-Europe business class that you hate and easily booked with avios points.
SE Asia isn't that bad a market either - SQ offers their regional biz on many flights, which isn't that bad compared to QR, and even the long haul configured 77Ws on select flights. So does GA, TG and CX, and MH long ago.
AF flies a 777 EZE-MVD-EZE, collecting passengers in MVD on its final way to CDG. The flight is 50'. Doesn't stand a chance to QR's 777, though.
Wow. That's been than the first-class on the what, 10-hour(?), ATL-HNL flight.
Lucky - those are MY parents (and yes, we had a wonderful time showing them around the UAE!)!! We were so excited they were able to get a good rate and fly 'up front' for their visit). 🙂
I flew Abu Dhabi - Doha with QR 787 last month in Business (Regional First), simply awesome.
@peter @randyflyer
I think it was the bald guy with the stripy shirt. His sneakers match with his jeans in both pics 🙂