Back in February I wrote about Qatar Airways’ new all business class service between Doha and London Heathrow. It will be operated by an Airbus A319 aircraft consisting of a total of 40 business class seats spread across ten rows in a 2-2 configuration.
There are several airlines offering “all business class” services, though there’s usually some unique selling proposition to them. For example, British Airways’ all business class service between London and New York flies out of London City Airport, so that’s potentially more convenient for some passengers.
British Airways Club World London City A318
British Airways Club World London City A318
What’s unique about Qatar Airways’ Business One service is that… it isn’t unique. It’s operating into London Heathrow, and doesn’t even have the best business class product that Qatar Airways operates in the market (they have a 787 with herringbone seats as well).
Qatar Airways 787 business class
Nonetheless, I’m intrigued by the service, and it begins operating daily this Thursday, May 15, 2014. The schedule is as follows:
QR15 Doha to London departing 2:50PM arriving 8:25PM
QR16 London to Doha departing 9:55PM arriving 6:40AM (+1 day)
I hope to fly it in the first month that it operates.
Award availability on the route remains fairly good, especially if booking far in advance. I don’t see much award space over the coming months which is kind of surprising since loads seem to be quite light, but looking into the future I see several dates with 3-4 business class award seats per flight.
Ultimately this service is fairly low risk for Qatar Airways. They’re not a start up relying solely on this service to turn a profit, but rather they’re trying to enhance their overall offerings in the market, and this is a nice addition. I suspect regardless of whether it turns a profit or not they’ll keep it around for pride and prestige.
Anyone have plans to fly Qatar Airways’ new Business One service between Doha and London?
Out of curiosity, are revenue tickets on this plane more expensive/cheaper/same as J on regular routes?
@ Melissa -- out of curiosity, what route did you fly on S7 in first class? I've booked plenty of business & economy tickets on S7 (great use of Avios awards) for travel within Russia but didn't know they had first class.
@ Ivan Y -- Revenue fares seem to be the same for the A319 as the other services.
I am quite excited that I managed to get an award seat on Thursday's flight from Heathrow!
There are terminal capacity limitations around this schedule, which means QR has to limit capacity on this aircraft in order to retain these slots. In due course, this will probably change (as other airlines realign their capacity) and then you'll likely see this upgraded to a higher capacity type.
@ wwk5d - LOL
"There are several airlines offering “all business class” services"
Yes, but Qatar Airways can at least say they're the ONLY airline offering that service between London and the GCC...until someone from Emirates marketing department catches wind of this and they decide to put those Qatari bitches in their place by offering an A380 all business class route to London ;)
I have been a big fan of your blogs over the last year since I've stumbled across it. Your trip reports helped me decide which airline I should spend miles on for our trip to Sochi for the Olympics.
By the way, I think I read somewhere that you haven't flown s7.. Their first class product was great!
My question is that I am wanting to buy enough miles to fly business/first for...
I have been a big fan of your blogs over the last year since I've stumbled across it. Your trip reports helped me decide which airline I should spend miles on for our trip to Sochi for the Olympics.
By the way, I think I read somewhere that you haven't flown s7.. Their first class product was great!
My question is that I am wanting to buy enough miles to fly business/first for our safari next February. We normally fly American but are willing to try new products. I know you posted cathay pacific being a great product. I just need some direction on which is the best deal. Even if we have to fly different airlines it's not an issue. Sorry for the length. It's my first time asking on here. Thanks!
That's a very good point John, I'm sure Lucky will run every future purchase past you if it in anyway involves other peoples money that has willingly been donated.
It's especially helpful of you to add your comment to this post just to make sure it gets noticed even if it's at best a tedious link so thanks for that.
Seems like a much better deal/value using miles to fly Qatar than wasting $25,000 to fly an Etihad Residence Suite! What a total waste of using other people's money! If you're going to fundraise for a cause it should be for something useful/beneficial, not for some selfish dumbass cause like this.