Review: Qatar Airways First Class Airbus A380 (DOH-PER)

Your post bringing back to 2017 when I flown A380 First Class from Doha to Sydney, after dinner gone sleep and since cabin just with 4 of us I was in 1A and crew made my bed in adjacent aisle seat, after 3 hours of sleep, gone to toilet and when back found a guy in my seat wrapped in my blanket and could see only his shoes out, bit sleepy and confuse believing even I was in wrong aisle, then alerting crew about 'invasion' and Japanese purser with other staff provided to wake up him to move out while scolding him, guy was like from sleepy to trance and without even says a word or apologize moved down stairs to his seat in eco and crew promptly providing change new bedding for me. Funny experience but weird too as my personal belongings around seat and not nice found someone wrapped in your own stuff.

We travelled in business class to Perth on the A380 a few weeks back and again first class had only one passenger whilst business was full - I’m not a fan of the 2nd best cabin layout the food and drinks were inline with what you experienced in first save for the caviar and a few other options, I understand First is very popular in the other direction - looked like a great flight though

I’ve flown Qatar business 3 times and the wines you had access to on this F flight far outpace my experiences in J.

For me connecting from Europe to Asia/Australia via the Gulf Carriers is just really a hard sell because of the timing. Most of those flights essentially ensure you will have maximum jetlag just by the way they are timed. You usually arrive very late in Dubai/Doha/Abu Dhabi, somehow struggle to stay awake for 2-3 more hours for the connecting flight, and then have an onward flight that is too short for proper sleep. And if you want to invest into business or first class, the bad timing means you will be extremely tired for dinner and rather just skip it, leaving you with just airplane breakfast, which imo is usually the worst of the three possible main meals.

So from that perspective, I much prefer a non-stop overnight flight from Europe to Asia and then onward to Oceania if necessary.

How did your Dad cope with a flat bed Ben? Did he ask them to change it back?

They have beluga vodka. I didn’t catch that when I flew Q Suites. That is Russian vodka.

omg, you should publish the whole story here as a guest author

"I found availability directly on aa.com, and booked about two weeks before departure." Thanks for including this in your purchase summaries. I find it quite illuminating.

I flew A380 first from BKK to DOH earlier this month. My experience was the same as yours - we had the whole cabin to ourselves and I sat in the same seat as you but since it was just a 6 hour flight I slept for only 2 hours.

Great review - can confirm there would not have been an empty seat in economy - I flew this exact flight a few months ago and was packed due to the Qatar flight cap and so many of us Aussies travelling

Also isn't it weird how when you (or anyone including me) says Airbus A380 but you say A. It's a bit like how you don't say B737 you just say 737 but you say A320 not 320 - bit random but thought it is funny

I already have title " The strange case of guy lost his First class seat" :):)

Lucky - What kind of a dent have you put in the 8million miles you got in that promo?

Did you try the rosé champagne? It is actually even more stunning than the already gorgeous Blanc des Millénaires (which I prefer to Dom and some editions of Krug). Honestly the Cuvée Alexandra Rosé might just be the best Champagne I’ve ever had. I had the pleasure just once; it was the 2004 vintage on the Cunard Queen Mary 2 ship.

Generally, you mention the menu isn’t much of a differentiation to business class, but the wine list is a significant upgrade.

Seconded - please continue to talk about award availability and difficulty/ease of booking!

I think Qatar first is no better than, or even inferior to, Business Class with a QSuite.

However, it's a lot better than the A380 Business Class. Out of the last 24 flights I've done from Doha to Australia, only 1 has had Qsuites. 14 hours in A380 Business Class is *ok* but after a Qsuites flight it's actually depressing!

On these flights, upgrading is worthwhile.

I agree with @Commenting Nobody. Give me the Q Suite over this product. Keep the caviar, I love doors!

Nice wine list. I would have sampled a couple of the wines instead of going for the second glass of Champagne.

Just wow! I can't imagine that, and to be honest I would have found it revolting on several levels.

I had that 2006 Rosè agreed. It was amazing. Nothing but a dry clean crisp berry aftertaste.

Yeah quite abnormal but crew was great in change all bedding and sanitize seat accly altough i ended back to my original seat in 1A, they also double watch stairs side whole flight to avoid any not authorized coming up and confirmed ever had such weird situation in past

To say nothing of Ducru on tap...

If you’re always wanting something in first class you’ll never enjoying flying first class. It’s a shame but predictable.

I understand your point but in the end, if you could fly this cabin or qsuite in the same route and the same schedule, would you pay the premium? If the answer is the former, doesn’t this review deserve a 5?

With a near-empty cabin, it is remiss of one of the 2 dedicated FAs not to have noticed an 'intruder' from Economy before he settled in for a relaxing sleep, and sent them from whence they came.

Ben, you might have negated the red colour of your dinner photos if you had used a flash.

They are eliminating first because business class is good as is and they can make business class larger or economy. Depends where they get the most revenue I suppose.

The hard product does not appear much different than busienss class. You even said that some planes have nicer business class than that First! First has a suprising number of seats and if they mostly go empty then another reasonf or them to eliminate it.

The wardrobes I think make people feel like it is nicer but it is actually less functional unless you have the roller bag given it looks narrow.

Wonder if you are paid from the alcohol companies too because you have a photo and comments about the welcome campaign.

Glad that you included how you found the fare and when.

Agree with you and also it depends on the alliances you tend to frequent.

A premium cabin, a premium experience, a premium price.

Great review as always Ben. It just doesn’t scream first class to me. Average cabin, soup for dinner with one choice of desert, mediocre drink selection, no
Mattress pad and amenities you get in business. For the amount of sleep you got that’s a huge premium for the hours you were awake (!if you would
Have paid cash ). Like you say q
Suites are just to good for this first class product.

Mediocre drink selection? The champagnes are $300, the reds $150-200. I don't think that's mediocre. QR F on the A380 these days has three different mains from J class, and the bathroom / bed space is a big uplift.

Mediocre drink selection? The champagnes are $300, the reds $150-200. I don't think that's mediocre. QR F on the A380 these days has three different mains from J class, and the bathroom / bed space is a big uplift.

Ive flown this same route, same class, but in the opposite direction. Being a Platinum frequent flyer with Qatar and have flown in First on their A380's, the Q Suites, on their A350's, their old Business class product on their 777's and their 787-9's, I found Q Suites, is definitely the top product. However, I found the First Class seat on the A380, the most comfortable to sleep on, apart from the First Class seat, on Emirates of course.

My take on Qatar Airbus A380 first class would be the food and drink being served and the onboard bar and maybe the onboard bar and maybe the lounge.