Five Star Virgin: Qatar Airways First Class from London (LHR) to Doha (DOH)

Great report! Surprised by a lot of things, including Smirnoff being their vodka offering in first class.

On that note, glad to see you indulging more in the booze 🙂

Lucky,
I counted at least two potent potables consumed in 1A... I'm pleased to see you're coming around. Nice report.

Oh, and Johnny Walker Black is the best they can do on that menu? Off the top my head LH, LX, SQ, NH, and TG all stock Blue Label and I'm just listing *.

JRL

@JRL, I too noticed Lucky's liquor consumption, and was pleased as well. So sad that it even matters to me. 🙂

@Lucky, their wine list is pretty impressive.

Great report. Did the Sheik and his entourage have to go through immigration or was he never to be seen again?

Very coOl. How much time did you spend in Qatar?

I agree about the Visas, though at least they took credit cards so you can earn miles on it! In Kenya it's cash only and they never have change. As for US visas: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

A nice report, although did you have to call on the paying for visas as the biggest scam in the world?

In that light, I suppose we should abolish the idea of paying a fee for any kind of visa (irrespective of country of origin, and purpose, e.g. tourism, business, study, etc.). Nice idea, but not likely to happen soon.

My experience is that Americans may be treated better than Europeans in the Middle East. i'm always surprised how easy immigration is... but, it's often a non-event, so German or American passport may not make any sort of difference.

Haven't played Alpine Cruiser, but Angry Birds is my procrastination of choice! Try it!!

I am really enjoying your report.
(I believe it’s called “hijab) No it is Abayah.
As for the visa, well let me inform you that as a Saudi the USA, EU, and India among others charge us over $100 for a visa and it takes sometimes up to 3-6 weeks to get it. So paying $30 is peanuts.

I forgot to add, if for any reason your visa is refused you do not get your money back. Now what would you call that?

Kind of rude in you comment " No one wants to come to your country" Well you kind of did.

Good report, but please the Country as a whole of the complaints list....

@ThePointsGuy
Smirnoff is actually pretty damn good vodka:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/26/dining/26wine.html?_r=1

Ben, did you talk to the sheik or his daughters?

Being called Mr. (first name) is an Asian thing - China, Sinagpore, Thailand, etc. (Japan is a different case, where it's (last name)-san. Given the Thai-national FAs you had, it makes perfect sense.

-Mr. wxguy reporting from BKK!

You need to lay off the bigoted remarks about Arabs in your report. Your preconceived notions about how an Arab pilot should act are both racist and offensive.

Also, your complaint about the visa is unwarranted. Qatari citizens have to pay much more to enter the US or the EU and their visas are by no means guaranteed like yours is.

@ jr -- As far as I could tell, he was just driven right off the premises. Didn't seem like he needed to go through immigration.

@ Kevin -- I spend three nights in Qatar. Stay tuned for the next part for more on that!

@ anat0l -- To clarify, I'm opposed to all kinds of visas that involve hefty fees. But here's what I feel makes it a stupid business decision -- Qatar is trying to grow as a country and get more business/tourists, yet is a wealthy country. I can understand a minor fee for a visa if there's a lot of processing involved, but there was no more processing here than in any other country that just requires a passport. I don't feel especially welcomed if I have to spend money in order to have the privilege of spending money in your country. That being said, a lot of other countries are the same, so I'm not meaning to single out Qatar here (though in this case, they were convenient).

@ Smart51 -- And I think that sucks too. Like I said, there are other countries that are just as bad, if not worse.

@ Oscar -- It might be rude, but in this case, I kind of stand by it. I voluntarily came to Doha for vacation. I don't remember the last time I've heard of anyone else doing that. If they want to build their tourism industry, how about being a bit more welcoming?

@ John -- The daughters didn't actually belong to the sheik. He was traveling alone, and then another (I assume wealthy) guy was traveling with his wife and three daughters.

@ Omar -- My comments certainly weren't intended to be bigoted. As far as I know they have a culture of understatement and modesty (at least in theory), and the captain's very detailed, incredibly enthusiastic welcome aboard announcement sounded more like one I would expect on Southwest airlines... but I mean that in a positive way.

And as far as the visa goes, I agree... and I think it's wrong they have to pay visa fees.

"I only note that because I know a majority of the pilots at Etihad, Emirates, etc., are ex-pats, often British, Australian, etc."

Many are Middle Eastern, just not locals, so technically they are expats...usually Lebanese or Jordanian or Egyptian. It is rare to see a Gulf Arab (an Arab from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the UAE) working as a pilot, though, that is true.

With regards to women...many women from the Gulf Arab countries do tend to dress more liberally when outside. It's very common when flying to those countries to see women at the departure airport or on the plane put on the black robe (called an abaya) and maybe the head covering (that's the hijab). It varies from country to country, lots of Kuwaiti women don't wear either. The one exception is Saudi Arabia; all women there, foreign or otherwise, are required to wear the abaya, and, if you are a Gulf Arab or muslim, the hijab as well.

Lucky, have you ever been to Honduras? I found the welcome sign at San Pedro Sula airport really funny -- it said something like "Welcome, entry to our country is free." The catch is, of course, the exit charge, payable in cash upon departing the country.

Come to think of it, that's kinda like New Jersey...

You know pretty much every country has fees of some kind for visiting, they're just usually wrapped up in the price of the ticket.

"C’mon Qatar, nobody wants to come to your country to begin with"

Then you can gladly leave! Very pompous and rude of you, seeing as you haven't even entered the place yet! Qatar has one of the most competitive job markets in the world, with people fighting for the chance to move there. You aren't very diplomatic!

As for the German passport thing, were you expecting them to kiss your a** or something? Quite a few countries require you to pay some sort of fee for a visa, this isn't a new concept. Considering you just stepped off of a first class cabin, I wouldn't be whining about a 30USD visa fee.

btw: Yes, many people go to Doha for vacation, usually from Asia or other middle eastern countries. Not everything is aimed at Americans...

I agree with gman 211 and omar... Some ppl keep talking less of airlines and its services but keep crawling back to the same airline...if singapore or any other airline can provide betterr service why dont u fly with them?why do some ppl keep flying the same airline..keep ur pathtic remarks to ur self....
Even though u've travelled first class , ur words and ur cheap attitude towards the airline and the svcs says alot about you..
As for your german passport, no ones gonna kiss ur ass and show you to a seperate bathroom for german passport holders...ur lucky they let u in with a visa so cheap, where some of us have to pay a hudge amount and there is no guarantee and its non refundable...
So stob being rude towards certain nationalities and to think all arabs are cheap, unaducated and non fashionable ,thats not very first class of you...
I dont think u eat caviar and drink champagne in ur house or even have buttlers who serve palette pleasers and soup as and when u please and even ppl to make ur bed whenever u wanna sleep..

No i am not arabic....and i am also an ex crew member of qatar airways and resigned cz i am done serving classless people like u...qatar airways is by far the best airline....ask an educated classy person and they will tell u their experience with the airline....

Thank god u were nt one of my passengers, instead of soup who'd know what i'd serve u..happy flying..

P.s..just cz u dont fly qatar doesnt mean we'd run off business...so bitch please....

Yeah, as noted above, Ben may not have been very diplomatic in stating his opinion, however his viewpoint is totally warranted.

He's not saying that certain nationalities, like arabs, are cheap. On the contrary, he's pointing out that since they are so spend-heavy and have a large form of cash flow from other sources, why not make the border visa-free or at least not make people go through the hassle of receiving one with a "fee" included in the ticket.

@Jade especially, I understand that you're expressing your view point, however if you reread your message, you'll notice you are being a lot more bigoted and rude by saying Ben isn't educated and classy based of a few sentences. The fact that you lack grammar and spelling in your post could lead to other people truly gaining the opinion that you believe Ben had.

As for your point about Ben calling Arabs unfashionable, well that's completely unwarranted seeing as he points out that all of the people travelling with him were in fact trendy, up until landing, at which point they switched to their ethnic clothing. He didn't point out that this clothing was unfashionable, but it is possible that compared to flashy western clothing, the hijab is more dull.

Also, if you took his note about the german passport in context, he didn't mean that he needed to be treated better, but rather than he would expect someone from a respected country to be treated with respect. While some people may not respect the U.S. (his other passport), most people have no issues with Germany so it means that the airport staff are most likely unfriendly, which should be pointed out in the critique of any airline.

The point of Ben's flight wasn't to find himself a new airline to fly on, it was to test and analyse a new product, he never said he would switch exclusively to Qatar, but rather he wanted to put it in perspective to flyer's like me who are contemplating on flying.

I hope that you understand his remarks and critiques of everything are warranted and should not be frowned upon. This will probably be read by maybe one or two people but the point of my rant is that you should think over what you are going to say to a person, as it's possible that what he is saying is a necessary part of his job and he is not trying to offend anyone.

Dear Gospodin Alexei Z., Well put! It's comforting to know souls still exist which enjoy the irony of an illiterate's attempt to label me a bigot. As with most uneducated and rude people, regardless of native birth location, the irony of the profoundly relevant points fly right over their heads. This idiot probably thinks the hypocrisy of wearing tight jeans in Piccadilly Circus, yet jumping into B.C. "cover-ups" as soon as the bird enters Qatar airspace is respectable. Explains all the immigrant out-sourced crew. Not about to let the "Holy-Jihad" natives witness the inevitable costume changes.

Well the US embassy personnel also did not say thank you to the guy next to me who paid 160 USD for nothing, as his tourist visa application was rejected after a less than 3-minute interview. If that's not the biggest scam in the world, then I don't know what is.
I don't really care that much about political correctness, but stop being so self entitled. The world doesn't owe you anything

@GeeW.
Here here.....and we won't talk about the 'Visa free' travel to the USA that still requires a ETSA for the visa waiver programme to be applied for (albeit online so it's easier) BUT for which there is a charge of $10. So $20 less than Qatar for a 'permission' to enter.....when is a visa not a visa...when it's a ETSA. Sort of like the 1960's....this isn't a war...it's a police action sort of philosophy. If you have bombers, thousands of troops, a battle fleet stationed outside...looks like a war to me.
And that's not to discount my own countries charge for visas (Australia). So all in all..rather churlish to single out Qatar. What should have been critiqued is the bureaucratic nature of the process that could be handled online......faster and less hassle to ensure smoother entry like most western countries.

I want to try Qatar F class on the 380 and was thinking to relocate and fly from LHR on one of my upcoming trips.
But i cant see any award space on any flights, short or long term, on F class 380 to or from LHR.

Has their policy changed again? Or is it only available for the top tier ppl?

Sry, I posted on the wrong article :/

Ben, how times change this first class trip looks terrible compared to the new suites!