Review: Qatar Airways A380 First Class Doha To London

Lucky, where do they put your carry-on(s) on Qatar A380s?

Oh dear I don't give much for BA's chances after that review of QR....

They thought the passengers would not notice any cost cutting they did onboard. lol
Shame!

Lucky do you have a fast metabolism or do you not eat everything you are served? How do you not put on weight only eating plane and lounge food?!?

I'm going to start a new drinking game - every time Ben uses the word "Krug" take a shot and for every photo two shots. I agree about the bar. I think it's definitely the most well done of the ME3. I do wonder how long they will continue to have them on A380's. From your photos it looked empty. I had an evening flight BKK-DOH and there were only two other passengers in the bar after dinner despite the business class cabin being almost full.

A great review as usual, thank you.

I find the look of the cabin to be simply stunning! No need for bling, just understated style.

I love how the safety video twink makes his way into every single post about a Qatar flight. Love it!

Both of my two previous experiences in Qatar F are quite different from yours. I last flew Qatar from BKK to Doha in early October and was given slippers and Pajamas for a 8PM flight. Had choice of hot/cold towel and was dine on demand. They were 5 passengers total in the cabin and service was attentive.

Will be interesting to see if anything changes when I fly them in F again in late May. I also have a business ticket back from BKK in March that I am trying to upgrade. Potential two opportunities.

I like the more open First Class cabins. I'd like to see a cabin that still has assigned seats but feels like a lounge. As for those more private Emirates suites...they seem cramped and cluttered and all that gold and brass, to me, just feels gaudy. I'm swooning over TAM first class and especially Air France La Première on the 777-300ER. Both very open with only 4 seats.

I've enjoyed reading/learning from this site for the past two months, although this is my first post. Thanks to the great articles here, (my wife and) I managed to score first class award tickets on Qantas to/from Sydney towards the end of the year. Look forward to the (first-time) experience flying international first class on an A380.

Lucky -- You really, really, REALLY enjoy drinking Krug! If all your consumption wasn't complimentary, I might suggest you seek counseling. 🙂 On the other hand, Krug should hire you as their featured spokesman. They could feature you in ads along the lines of "The Most Interesting Man in the World", but instead of Dos Equis, you prefer Krug.

Happy contrails.

Imagine if Akbar Al Baker chimed in onto this...

you want to Hear the Truth about good/Bad Service Ben? It's all about Krug! Yes..i'm not kidding. I've two Friends working for QR And whenever sb asks for Krug they Know it's either a Blogger or a Customer flying on Miles.

Just amazing. Loved every minute of reading this report. Though I'm not a big fan of Qatar's hard-product (it reminds me of American's privacy-less product on the 77W), the service looks fantastic. I've been dreaming of booking Etihad's Apartments but this isn't too shabby.

Thanks for giving us a peek into the good life!

Lucky, I too was wondering where you put your roll aboard bag? I didn't see any overhead bins nor did there seem to be any storage space in/near the seat.

Come to think of it, a post around "where your bag goes" or "best roll aboard storage" might be fun! Without overheads I expect that might be an interesting one.

I was just going to book paid F on Qatar. After reading this I'll stick with EK! I keep hearing about these "service issues" and you are not the only one. What is going on at Qatar? That should be your next blog!

Lucky assure me that you had a taste of the Chateau Leoville Poyferre. Love the Left Bank!

Loved your review, thank you for it! IMHO QR are one of the most overrated airlines flying and seem to rest on their laurels of being a "5 star" airline. The level of service you experienced on your flight was on part with the 7 flights I've flown with them in the past, you can almost feel the tension of the poor working conditions coming through from some of their staff. I wouldn't fly them again if you paid me to.

I cannot agree more that QR is on a cost cutting spree which is rather disappointing as I only used to patronize them. I flew Etihad for my last two journeys.

There is Google Street view of Qatar a380 on their website.

@Chris--have you noticed the screenshots are on the same text as well? As if Qatari Hunks McGee would need a whistle to attract attention. Woof.

This article sounds rather harsh and biased for what the product actually is. The pictures look quite nice to me. But then again, it's your blog and you are entitled to express your dislike towards this airline.

Lucky, I think these days QR hands out pyjamas only on overnight flights. Correct me if I am wrong.

As for the quality of service...WOW, did not expect this from QR. I haven't flown F yet but have flown multiple times in business and the service has been splendid every time. Agreed that some of the FAs are friendlier and seem genuinely happy to be there but every FA so far has been very attentive and helpful. I should note though that the passenger next to me on my last flight a week ago got quite frustrated as no one came over to his side to welcome him/offer him pre-departure drinks/pyjamas/hot or cold towels for a good 20 minutes after boarding. What made matters worse was that there were 2 FAs on my side that were almost duplicating service (I was offered drinks by both/almost ended up with an extra set of pyjamas etc.).

Another cost cutting (or at least I think its cost cutting) on QR's part...they no longer serve Kopke Port in business. Its only for F apparently.

This is the flight I take most often these days (not in first class unfortunately!)
This flight always departs late and takes ages to arrive at Heathrow! I am looking forward to when they start the 787 to and from Birmingham soon where arrivals and departures are much quicker in the smaller airport, as I experienced when I flew the 787 from Manchester last week (leaving on time and arriving 45 minutes early). The amenity kit was exactly the same as your first class one which I found odd.

Personally, I prefer the Emirates A380 business seat to Qatar's purely because of the extra privacy if you have in the seats closest to the windows.

"There’s not the level of bling you’d find on Emirates or Etihad, but rather just understated luxury."

Is Etihad really that blingy? I find it understated, but I guess tastes differ.

"including a breadbasket with a croissant, danish, and some Arabic bread."

Nothing Arabic about that bread, Lucky...

"There’s not one thing about the menu which sets it apart."

Well, you get to your egg meal cooked to order, and there are more options for the main...but it does seem to be a similar menu. If you ever fly Emirates' business class, you'll notice it as well. You can check out sample menus on their website. In many cases, the exact same dish is listed for both first and business class.

"Fortunately they still serve Krug, so we stayed well hydrated"

Not when you're at that altitude lol

I would be really disappointed with this experience if I paid the full fare. I expect a first class experience to be so superior in terms of service!

I totally agree. As I reviewed on my blog airwaysandtravels.com, QR First failed to impress, while business class was a joy.

Ben, you say that the food is very similar as what you were served in business class. Would you say that their first class food is not good enough for what you would expect for first class food? Or that their business class food is better than what you would expect for business class food? Does that make sense?

Your review mentions a "guy" was the bartender, but the picture shows a beautiful lady as the bartender. She is gorgeous. What was the nationality/ethnicity of the crew? What I wouldn't give to take her into the large first-class lavatory, undress her and make love to her at 38,000 feet.

@Mile High As Ben mentioned, that was a picture from his previous flight in QR F.

isnt that picture from the onboard lounge the old one ? it was in the other post.

It seems like QR's business class is too good and it doesn't seem like there is any incentive to pay for F.

Also, your amenity kit is the exact same as the one they give in J. The only difference is that it looks like your bottle of aftershave is bigger. I would have expected something a bit more special for F.

I really cant believe that an airline blogger is so naiive not to realise that if you fly on an inaugural you are going to get service above and beyond any regular flight . I therefore think its unfair to compare , though Ben was in love with QR 1st on the inaugural A380 flight .......Other than that he regularly says he hates AAB the CEO of QR. He was also flying to London and he hates anything British ,even though its our language that America changed 😉 shedjewel is correct not skedjule ! . I'm a regular QR flyer and yes the cost cutting is evident but no more so than any other airline in all honesty .. Aside from that I like to see the pictures of the different products to form my own opinions so thanks for that Ben .

I'm disappointed in your levels of Krug consumption. I have A380 F coming up (my first Qatar F) from Sydney to Doha in a couple weeks, and I'll be extremely disappointed in myself if I don't manage north of a bottle 😉

How difficult it is (in terms of availability) to book Qatar F with AA miles? Is it more difficult to find availability from the US to Doha or Doha back to the US? What about Doha to Africa or Australia?

Whatever you do, do not book this airline- here's a summary of what happened to us flying first class on qatar!

SUMMARY
• In total it took us 24 hours to get to Dubai, when it should have only taken 10 hours max.
• In total we were stuck on planes for 9 hours: 45 minutes on QR4, 5 hours on QR1004, 2 hours 40 minutes on QR1024 just waiting for no substantial reason.
• There was an identical flight landing to DWC at the same time as our flights at 02.30am- they reached fine with no weather issues, so why didn’t we? Why did we have to wait 5 hours on that plane!? So why was everyone blaming the weather because we saw many planes take off and we know that the DWC plane went to Dubai with no issues.
• We are frequent flyers with Emirates and fly first and business class all of the time. We were ‘wowed’ by your advertising campaign on business travel but we are extremely disappointed with the way you handled the delays and treated us at every stage of the journey.

After complaining to them, they gave me a template reply with 'standard lines', apologized and said there's nothing they can do! If they treat first class passengers like this then I'd hate to think what they'd do to economy passengers!

Hi Ben,
Nice review. The first class suite are nice and chic. From your picture, the breakfast bread looks very sad ;).

Regards..