Review: Qatar Airways Business Class A340 Doha To Colombo

Lucky, presume u do not have check in luggage on this trip?

Was thinking if you will cover the transit situation in CMB , where u transferred on separate tickets?

How was the transit situation in CMB transit area, especially u r on separate tickets and add that the 2 flights r from different alliance? Would check-in luggages be difficult to interline if on separate tickets?

@ Flyingfish -- Correct, we didn't have checked luggage. Will talk about the transit experience in the next installment, but basically we just went to the transit desk to get our boarding passes. If we did have checked bags this would have been much more complicated.

Love the single page for each bottle of wine! I worked in an Italian restaurant years ago and we did similar - we soaked off the labels from wine bottles and placed them in a photo album with the price beside them - one for each page.

@Lucky QR is the best airline IMO, but whenever I board and see a flight attendant, I think of His Excellency telling the crew "the pilots are my chauffeurs, they only come to @%$& you"

Do you get any feeling of sorrow for the crew when you see them?

@flyingfish, with checked luggage on two separate tickets (e.g. not Sri Lanka) you would need to clear Immigration, then buy large appliances if you want, collect your bags, walk outside from the arrivals building, head right to the departure building and clear a security check point going into arrivals. Now here is the messy part. There is another security check point before the can get to the checkin desks, but you will not be allowed to clear that check point until 3 hours before departure of your flight. I'd love to see Lucky's impression of this waiting/hold cell/purgatory part of the airport. After you clear the check point you go to the check in desk, then back through immigration and finally you are in the airport. None of these steps takes too long, but depending on when you next flight is you might be stuck outside the pre check in desk check point, which is not pleasant.

@Lucky - It was your reviews of Qatar (not to mention, of course, your tips and tricks on miles which I've reading daily for the last 6 years) that has led me to fly them 3 times, twice in business and once in first. I agree the food is great, the service terrific, and so forth, but you had post a few years back on just how poorly the airline treats its staff and that has really changed my perspective on flying them. I'm not saying that other airlines are necessarily exemplars of how to treat employees, but given that Qatar seems particularly bad in this area does that give you any pause in flying them? All the times I've flown the airlines the crews have been so sweet and kind, but since your posts about working conditions there (and other things I've read about it), I've not flown Qatar anymore and don't plan on it. I just don't think all the luxury and first class treats would taste as sweet knowing that the person serving them to me could their job for something trifling or less. I realize there is always the counterargument that if people boycotted the airline everyone might lose their job, but that doesn't really work for me here given: (a) it doesn't appear Qatar is a profit-making venture anyway; and (b) I, at least, redeem miles so am not paying anything anyway (although realize sometimes, like on this trip, you do have a revenue ticket).

Would be interested in your thoughts on this.

Thanks as always,
Django

Good to know they are still serving WALKERS shortbread and cookies!

I love the subtle, or not so subtle, nuance of pic #16 in your report. Keep up the great screen shots!! 🙂

@lucky - the Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge, any idea if they are serving Krug again?

@ Mileage Man -- They're not, unfortunately.

@flyingfish2

Hey twin. Lol.

Thanks for your info. OMG. This would be crazy. Looks like everyone one is better off doing a 1-night stay in CMB town if they are trying to take advantage of the cheap ex-CMB ticket fares.

Anyway, I will read on Lucky's write-up on the transit experience in the next episode.

I flew last month between Doha and CMB in economy class. The food was a disaster. The seat is not comfortable. Service is ok. So my experience on Qatar was not perfect

Thanks for your sharing. It makes me even more excited for the upcoming flight in business class with Qatar!!
I have a question to ask (though it is asked in early reply), hope they don't bother too much.
The first one is about transit in CMB. I m flying with Srilankan Airlines from CAN to CMB then with Qatar from CMB to DOH. Do you mean that, if i don't hv any checked luggage, i can just go to the transit counter and get my onward boarding pass? ( my first flight arrives at around 23:00pm and second flight departs at around 3:30am) I m stuck with the problem and can't really get the answers on the Net.