First Look At Qatar Airways A380!

As I hinted at a bit over a week ago, last Friday I flew from Doha to London Heathrow on the Qatar Airways A380 inaugural flight. Out of the millions of miles I’ve flown, I don’t think I’ve ever chased a flight as much as this one. That’s because Qatar Airways had a roughly four month delay in taking delivery of the plane, thanks to His Excellency’s extreme attention to detail.

That only added to my anticipation, especially as I considered that The Chief might even make an appearance aboard, given how proud he was of his new baby.

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To say that I couldn’t sleep the night before the flight (despite being exhausted as heck and severely sleep deprived) would be an understatement.

Qatar Airways A380

On Friday I shared 15 pictures and five facts about the Qatar Airways A380, so figured I’d expand on that today and share some more information about the flight.

Qatar Airways A380 first class cabin

Qatar’s first class cabin is located at the top of the upper deck, and is gorgeous. It features a total of eight seats, spread across two rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.

It’s not the most private product in the world — unlike Emirates and Etihad, they don’t have fully enclosed suites in first class. That being said, it almost works to their advantage, as the cabin feels so spacious and stylish thanks to how open it is.

It’s worth noting that Qatar plans to fly their A380s primarily between Doha and London/Paris, so for the most part the A380s won’t be used for ultra longhaul flying (where enclosed suites are more useful).

It’s no secret that Qatar’s CEO has a frightening level of attention to detail when it comes to everything, and that’s very much reflected in the cabin and finishes. The cabin really feels like it was designed in a way where no expense was spared.

Qatar Airways A380 first class cabin

Qatar Airways A380 first class cabin

Qatar Airways A380 first class cabin

I selected seat 2A, which I was happy with, as it gave me a nice overview of the cabin.

Qatar Airways A380 first class seat

The bed was extremely spacious. It did lack privacy somewhat, though there’s a “shield” you can raise along the side of the seat for added privacy.

Qatar Airways A380 first class bed

Qatar Airways A380 first class privacy screen

Each seat also has a fairly large closet, perfect for hanging clothes or storing a small laptop bag.

Qatar Airways A380 first class closet

To the left of the seat was a compartment with a bottled water holder and entertainment controls.

Qatar Airways A380 first class entertainment controls

Meanwhile to the right of the seat were the seat controls and headphones.

Qatar Airways A380 first class seat controls

Qatar Airways A380 first class seat controls

Qatar Airways A380 first class bathrooms & bar

In front of the first class cabin are two huge bathrooms. There aren’t showers like on Emirates, though the bathrooms are large and beautifully designed. They reminded me a bit of what Lufthansa offers on their A380s.

Qatar Airways A380 first class lavatory

Qatar Airways A380 first class lavatory

One cool aspect of the bathroom was that the faucets had sheets of water rather than a stream, which I’ve never before seen on a plane.

Qatar Airways A380 first class lavatory

While the bigger bar is behind business class, there are two small display areas at the front of the upper deck right near the bathrooms. They had drinks and snacks, including nuts and chips.

Qatar Airways A380 first class bar

Qatar Airways A380 first class amenities

For a six hour flight they sure as hell went all out on the amenities.

For one, Qatar Airways offers A380 first class passengers complimentary Wi-Fi, which is pretty awesome. You’re given an access code and then can access unlimited data for the entirety of the flight for free.

Qatar Airways A380 complimentary Wi-Fi

One other cool thing is that unlike on the 787s, you can actually purchase reasonably priced Wi-Fi plans without data limits.

Then in terms of the amenity kit, there was a lovely Giorgio Armani amenity kit, which is limited edition and exclusively available on the A380s. It’s one of the nicest amenity kits I’ve received on any airline.

Qatar Airways A380 first class amenity kit

Then there were pajamas, which were a bit on the big side but decent quality.

Qatar Airways A380 first class pajamas

Lastly, there were Missoni slippers — while they were on the small side, they were the most comfortable airline slippers I’ve ever received.

Qatar Airways A380 first class slippers

Qatar Airways A380 business class cabin

Qatar Airways has a fairly small business class cabin on the A380. There are a total of 48 seats spread across 12 rows. It is one single big cabin, so it doesn’t feel especially private. That being said, it features the same reverse herringbone seats available on their 787s, which is my favorite business class hard product.

Qatar Airways A380 business class cabin

Qatar Airways A380 business class cabin

Qatar Airways A380 business class seat

I’d argue this is the best business class hard product of any A380 flying so far. Qatar Airways is the only airline to have reverse herringbone seats in business class on the A380.

Qatar Airways A380 business class bar

Hands down the highlight of the Qatar Airways A380 is the onboard bar, located on the upper deck behind the business class cabin and in front of the economy cabin. The two other airlines with impressive A380 onboard bars are Emirates and Korean Air, though I’d say Qatar’s is the nicest by a long shot.

Not only is the bar itself beautiful, but it has a large couch on each side of it.

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar seating

The bar has a really impressive liquor and wine selection, in addition to an extensive cocktail menu.

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar

Most impressive is that they serve Krug at the business class bar.

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar champagne selection

That’s right.

Krug.

In business class.

Krug is just about my favorite champagne out there, so I’m thrilled when I get it in first class. But to get it in business class? WOW!

Interestingly it’s not the standard champagne in business class, yet it’s still available at the bar if you ask for it. Why do they offer it, you ask? Because the bar is shared between business and first class, and the idea is that they don’t want the alcohol selection to be a downgrade for first class passengers.

Given how much time I spent at the onboard bar and that they serve Krug, I probably wouldn’t even go out of my way to fly first class over business class on this flight next time.

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar champagne selection

In addition to an amazing drink selection, they also have a nice food selection at the bar. There are several bar snacks in addition to canapes, muffins, cookies, etc.

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar canapes

Since it was the inaugural flight, they also had a special A380 cake made by Fauchon.

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar cake

Qatar Airways A380 first class food

Qatar Airways has an “on demand” dining concept. Since the flight left Doha at 8AM and landed in London at 2PM, a majority of the options were breakfast items, though they also had a decent number of lunch options.

Before takeoff I had a glass (or four) of Krug, which was accompanied by warm mixed nuts and a hot towel.

Qatar Airways first class pre-departure Krug

Then the flight attendants offered Arabic coffee and dates.

Qatar Airways first class pre-departure Arabic coffee

Qatar Airways first class menu

After takeoff I had breakfast, starting with a gravlax salmon starter.

Qatar Airways first class breakfast — salmon gravlax starter

Then I had some greek yogurt.

Qatar Airways first class breakfast — greek yogurt with honey

And then a traditional Arabic breakfast as my main course.

Qatar Airways first class breakfast — traditional Arabic breakfast

Then prior to landing I had the Arabic mezze to start.

Qatar Airways first class lunch — Arabic mezze

And then I had a ribeye steak sandwich.

Qatar Airways first class lunch — grilled ribeye steak sandwich

The food all tasted very good. Ultimately it wasn’t all that “first class,” but then again this was a breakfast flight, and it’s difficult to truly differentiate the first class meal service too much when you’re on a six hour daytime flight (not that I’d object to caviar for breakfast!).

Qatar Airways service

The service on this sector was impeccable. Qatar Airways has 25 cabin crew on the A380, which I believe is even more than Emirates has (and Emirates has two dedicated shower attendants).

Unlike on past Qatar Airways flights, I found the service to be extremely personable and attentive. I spent a few hours at the onboard bar, and the crew there was especially fun and pleasant. A special shout out to Roxana, who mixed some great cocktails and couldn’t have been more fun to hang out with.

Qatar Airways A380 bottom line

The Qatar Airways A380 is simply gorgeous. While it doesn’t feature fully enclosed suites or onboard showers, the attention to detail on the Qatar Airways A380 was almost unlike anything I’ve seen on another airline.

Rumor has it that after London and Paris their third A380 destination will be New York, so I can’t wait for that (and you can bet I’ll be on the inaugural).

What do you think of the Qatar Airways A380?