Flight: Doha (DOH to London (LHR)

Airline: Qatar Airways

Flight Number: QR1/QR001

Plane: Boeing 777-300ER

Cabin: Business Class/First Class

Seat: 1E

This Flight

This is, I believe, Qatar Airways’ flagship flight – QR001.

This class flight is one of many flights which depart Doha to Heathrow, I believe Qatar Airways operate 5 or 6 daily flights now!

QR001 is scheduled to leave Doha at 12:40 and land in London at 17:30. It’s a daytime flight, that takes just over 7 hours.

On this occasion, whilst this was work a work trip, I was able to bring Mrs Neil with me – so we checked out the double QSuite!

Checking In

I was transiting Doha, so had already checked in. With that said, we had quite a long layover, so I created this post to consider some of the things to do in Hamad International on a long layover.

The Lounge

Because I was on a work trip, the flight had been booked in the lower ‘P-Fare’ class on Qatar Airways, which doesn’t include lounge access. Or at least access to Al Mourjan.

However, being a OneWorld Emerald, I was able to access the Qatar Airways Platinum Lounge – which in fairness is excellent!

The Plane

This was Qatar Airway’s Boeing 777-300ER, equipped with Qsuite – currently Qatar Airways have 52 of these in their fleet. 

This plane was fitted with 42 Qsuite and 314 Economy. There is no First Class and no Premium Economy.

The Seat

In this case, as I was with Mrs Neil, we decided to try out the Double QSuite, so we took seats in 1E and 1F.

As usual, I’ve separated out a review to that specific seat, which you can find here.

The headlines are that it’s a great seat for couples, but also if you didn’t know the person next to you, there are enough dividers to be totally private and not know someone is next to you. But if you are a couple – then you can certainly make it your own!

So, in essence, it’s great for a honeymoon to the Maldives – but if you’re a lone traveler going for business, I’d take a window seat.

Food and Drink

Drinks

Before takeoff the Cabin Crew came around and gave me around 8 different possibilities of drinks.

I decided to take a glass of Champagne, which was offered as either Laurent-Perrier Brut or Charles Heidsieck Rose Reserve. The list price per bottle is about £35 and £70 respectively.

As always, there was still a good range of drinks on offer. This included cocktails, beers, spirits, wines, etc. Qatar Airways offers a fairly extensive wine and port list, which is provided separately to the food menu. Whites included Albert Bichot and Casa Silva Cool Cost , and reds from Yalumba and Josef Chromy Pepik. On average the bottles list at about £35.

After takeoff I took a beer which was served with hot nuts.

With my dinner I took a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, which was excellent!

Lunch

Qatar Airways offer a dinner on demand service, which is always much appreciated. Flights departing FROM Doha allow you the option to pre-order mains, which is what I did ahead of this flight.

On this occasion, I decided to go for lunch about 2 hours into the flight. Before lunch was served, the table was made, which came with a bread roll, candle, and condiments tray.

I was then offered a canapé, which was beef something. I don’t usually go for canapés as they’re usually fish – but I figured I couldn’t go wrong with beef, and it was pretty good.

For those who wanted it, there was a starter option of soup – which was Brocoli miso. I skipped this and went straight for appetisers.

There were two appetisers on offer;

• Classic Arrabic mezze
• Burrata tomato carpaccio

I went for the carpaccio, which again was very good.

For mains, the following was on offer;

• Char-grilled lamb kofta
• Grilled filler of salmon
• Qatari style chicken mashkool
• Vegan laksa

I had already pre-ordered the lamb koftas, which were really good.

Then it was desert time, with the following on offer;

• Cheese plate
• Double chocolate tarte
• Fresh berries and cream
• Gourmet ice cream

By this time we were very full, but on instance of the Cabin Crew were offered to try all of the deserts – so we did! They were very good too!

All in all, this was an excellent dining experience!

Snacks and Light Options

Eating as much food as we did 2 hours into a 7 hour flight certainly meant that we couldn’t eat any more!

For those who could, the following was on offer;

• Afternoon tea
• Chicken katsu burger
• Crisps, popcorn, chocolates and bisuits

I wish I could say I tried some of that – but I was just too stuffed!

Finally, at the end of the flight, we were bought a box of chocolates.

Amenities Kit

I’d previously written that it seems Qatar Airways are stopping their rather nice leather bags in favor for the cardboard kits on non ex-Doha routes.

On this route, we were provided with the very nice Diptyque of Paris.

Inside the kit included:

• Lip balm
• Facial mist
• Socks
• Body lotion
• Something else

Additionally, ‘Travel in Confidence Kits’ were handed out, which contained a face mask, wipes, anti-bacterial juice and gloves,

Wifi

I had a lot of work to do on this flight and Wifi for this flight was priced at $10.

I found the Wifi to be pretty good – and it did everything I needed it to.

Entertainment

The IFE (In Flight Entertainment) System was jam-packed with the latest movies, music and TV channels. For this relatively short flight there was plenty to watch!

The screens are huge and definitely very impactful.

But……..there was something else! If you work on a plane, like I do – this will change your life for ever!

Yes! Dual screen! Life changing! Using the HDMI input on the side console of your seat, you can dual screen a laptop to the screen – this means working on a plane has got even more productive!

Cabin Crew

I will keep this short, as anyone who reads my blogs know I think Qatar’s Cabin Crew are excellent.

This flight was no exception, everything was perfect. I can’t really say any more than that! It was just perfect!

The crew were 100% on their game, lunch served perfectly, refills and more drinks like a never-ending tap – it was all fantastic.

Landing in Heathrow

Landing in Heathrow was uneventful. It was a bloody long walk to immigration!

After that, suitcases came out after a 10 minute wait – which was pretty good I’d say!

Conclusion

This was another consistently excellent flight with Qatar Airways!

The food was great, drinks plentiful – and the fact I can dual-screen my laptop to the IFE is a gamechanger!

Well done Qatar Airways!