Qatar Airways is the launch customer of the Airbus A350, and this past Thursday I had the opportunity to fly on the inaugural commercial A350 flight from Doha to Frankfurt. Usually it's a big deal when an airline takes delivery of a new plane (just look at Etihad and their A380), but in this case…
Continue reading: Qatar Airways A350 Business Class Inaugural Flight
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@ Abdel Rahim Abdallah -- Hah, he didn't, but he had some interesting stuff to say. Stay tuned for the next post. 🙂
"Qatar Airways has a fantastic business class product on the A350 (which they claim will be “obsolete” next year)."
Isn't it the first class they claim will be obsolete?
@ Cecilie -- That as well, but Al Baker also said the current business class will be obsolete in 2016, as I wrote about in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/qatar-airways-introduce-super-business-class-bedrooms-2016/
"So if I flew the Qatar Airways A380 in the future I’d just book business class"
for real???
"But of course the single biggest benefit of the A350 isn’t even the passenger experience, but rather what it will allow airlines to do. The plane has significantly lower operating costs than other comparable aircraft out there which will long term allow airlines to operate routes which might not otherwise be viable."
Isn't this actually more likely to apply to the 787 given that the 787-8 is significantly smaller than the smallest A350?
@ Justin -- Short term it definitely applies more to the 787 than the A350, but with the global demand for air travel expected to double in the next couple of decades, even the A350 will be viable in smaller markets.
Fair enough, though think a lot of the growth is projected to be in emerging domestic markets where 737/A320 and lots of frequencies will rule the roost. I'm hoping for a direct IAD-SE Asia flight, so hopefully the A350 or 777X can make it happen. Cathay to HKG would be great...
In any case, do Qatar FAs make the bed for you in business class or are you on your own?
@ Justin -- Hmmm, I didn't ask since it was a daytime flight, but I assume they'd make it for you if you asked.
I quite like the hard product on the Qatar 787's but 75% of the time I've flown the service has been patchy. They offer dine on demand but they routinely forget to serve the meal before landing, and if I ask about it they say they've run out of it.
They've also run out of the arabic mezze 100% of the time I've flown with them.
Oh and why do ppl call him H.E anyways? he's a no one he is not related to the royal family so why is he being addressed as H.E a head of some airline a H.E does not make.
Hey Ben,
Nice report once again!
It's no surprise that the A350 is much quieter than the 787. Airbus tends to make much more quieter planes for some reason.
I like the wingtip and the engine on the A350 better than the 787. The wingtip on the A350 looks gorgeous!! And the engine looks better without the chevrons.
I think it's a customer option to omit the center bins in business class but not totally sure.
Watch what Cathay has in store for its A350! The seats will be designed by Porsche, and the changes won't be radical. Just a needed improvement to match the competition.
Cheers.
lucky - thats awesome, agree w many of your points and now cant wait to fly the A350 myself. also damnit was really looking forward to the convo with Al Baker in this long post... but you just gotta keep us in suspense longer eh.
also you said you paid for this flight but do you mean you got yourself an award ticket directly from DOH or another strategic booked ($$$) flight ex-CAI?
That looks amazing, I'm hoping to grab a seat coming up on my around the world trip in April. How would you rate this against the other reverse herringbone out there?
Lucky seem to have done a ex-CAI flight, tweeted some picture about the plane to or from CAI if memory served me right.
it's nice to hear the plane is quieter. That's a big part of the flight experience, sometimes even more so than the difference between business and first IMO.
Great post Lucky! I was surprised QR did not delay the inaugural. I wanted to be on your flight but I couldn't make it work last minute and thus could only book the return of the inaugural flight FRA-DOH.
I agree with all your points except I felt the a350 was just as quiet as the a380 (a350 was definitely quieter than 787.)
That black tint around the cockpit windows was quite sleek and I loved your engine photo.
I was surprised they gave us the same goody bag/kit that you guys received even though we were on the second flight.
Overall a beautiful plane though I didn't really think it had a wow factor like the a380. I just hope it won't have the same woes as the 787 during its first year or two. Kudos to Airbus and QR!
@ dbeach
Gulf airlines have been avoiding a lot of Iraqi airspace recently (basically since MH17 and fears that IS militants may have Syrian SAM hardware) so they're flying around either via Iran, Turkey & the Black Sea or over Saudi Arabia, Egypt & the Mediterranean.
@Lucky:
No mood lighting during Boarding process?? How about throughout the flight??
> The A350 is extremely quiet. Like, unbelievably so. It makes the 787 and A380 seem loud, by comparison. After flying an A330 two days later, I can’t even begin to state how different the noise level was.
YES!!! WONDERFUL!!! There's nothing like lots of noise to increase flight fatigue, and it's great to see the manufacturers spending money to make aircraft quiet.
REALLY looking forward to flying this A/C type!
@ Adam -- I booked a ticket ex-Cairo, as discussed in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/qatar/
@ Matt -- All in I'd say it's probably among the best out there. Excellent product.
Excellent report, thank you veru much!
One question regarding QR J seat: there is no armrest on the aisle side, isn't it? How comfortable is the seat compared with other reverse herringbones? Thx!
@ Edwin -- Hmmm, that's a great question. I'm not even sure, to be honest, since the windows were open for most of the flight. I noticed some "mild" mood lighting, but nothing too extreme.
@ Paul -- There is an armrest which goes up and down. I'd say the seat is marginally better than most of the other reverse herringbone seats out there.
So that flat ceiling you referred to - is that due to there being no centre section overhead bins, or just a different styling? I couldn't quite tell from the photo.
@Andy - Here is the Richard Quest CNN report on the A350;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw4Pwo_7BXE
I actually feel that in terms of service and offerings there isn't anything significant that differentiate First Class from Business on QR. Their First Class seats(on the A330 and A340) are old, narrow and exposed. With the new product, I would not hesitate to choose Business over First either.
Having said that, they have a really serious attitude toward their First Class passengers, in that they put on hold the deplaning (i.e. nobody gets off, even the biz pax) of an entire A340 until our dedicated shuttle start moving.
Hey Lucky! Do you upload those gorgeous photos on photo sharing sites like Flickr?
Booked 2 bus class DOH/PER for Sept. as the A350 is going there by then, after reading this excellent report we are excited.
@ Lucky -- Wow, you look quite distinguished in that CNN segment! See 1:25 mark in the video 😉
Any concern flying over Iran if there was a diversion and you had to land in Iran? I guess the options are limited in terms of the countries to fly over from Qatar & UAE to Europe. At least it doesn't fly over Syria or Iraq or Yemen.
Hi Lucky. Reading your glowing review on the QR A359 makes me excited that I booked myself on a flight in February. I was assigned Seat 4K.
Is there any particular window seat which you think is better than this? Rows 5 - 9 A and K are available..
@Lucky -
As an update for you. Mid-March FRA - DOH flight - No PJs, and no mattress pad... Also the amenity kit is severly lacking. Will update further on the DOH - FRA leg on the way back. 🙂
Tim
@ Tim -- Ouch, that's pretty disappointing. Wonder if it was just in that direction, or is also the case in the other direction. His Excellency insisted it was now a standard offering on the route.
That tail-cam pic with your breakfast on the tray - is that the camera distorting things or were you really at Concorde altitude??
@ das411 -- Hah, it's definitely a wide angle lens. The plane flies at a similar altitude to all other jets.
Hi Ben, Flying this plane from DOH to SIN in business later this year. There are two of us so we're going to book center seats. Any particular row you would recommend? The second bank of seats behind the bar area seems to be more private, and has better access to the bar :), but not sure about proximity to the lav?
@ AJ -- I'd probably just book two center seats in rows 2-5. That gets you the most privacy, since the seats behind the bar are "exposed," and everyone will walk past you during boarding.
Great! Was already assigned to row 3! Thanks! Hoping they keep the pajamas and amenity kits for this leg.