Qatar Airways announced today that they’ll be launching daily service between Doha and Dallas Ft. Worth as of July 1, 2014. The new service will operate with the following schedule:
QR733 Doha to Dallas departing 8:10AM arriving 4:15PM
QR734 Dallas to Doha departing 7:35PM arriving 6:20PM (+1 day)
The flight will be operated by one of their 777-200LR aircraft, featuring 42 fully flat business class seats and 217 economy class seats. These are ultra longhaul flights, blocked at 16hr5min westbound, and 14hr45min eastbound.
Qatar Airways’ other North America destinations include Chicago, Houston, Montreal, New York, and Washington. Furthermore, they’ll be launching service to Philadelphia as of April 2, 2014, and service to Miami as of June 1, 2014. That will make Dallas their seventh US destination and eighth North American destination.
This new route is more or less a no brainer. Qatar Airways joined the OneWorld alliance in late October, so it’s only logical for them to launch service to Dallas, Miami, and Philadelphia, all of which are hubs of the “new” American. I think the only aspect of this that’s surprising is the speed at which they’re increasing capacity, given that within three months they’re launching three new routes to the US.
I’ve looked into award availability on the new route, and it’s excellent. Most dates have at least four award seats in both business and economy class, so the flight is wide open as far as award seats go. As I’ve mentioned before, Qatar Airways is a great partner for booking a distance based OneWorld Explorer Award using American AAdvantage miles, due to the location of Doha as a gateway to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
If redeeming American miles for a partner award, you’d pay 67,500 miles one-way in business class. Meanwhile if redeeming British Airways Avios you’d pay 70,000 Avios one-way in business class for the new route, though British Airways does also impose fuel surcharges, which can be pretty hefty at ~$350 one-way.
Certainly an exciting new route that’s great for connections!
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