Review – Qatar Airways A350 Business Class Singapore – Doha

by Zac George
a man sitting in a row of monitors on an airplane

  • After arriving in Singapore from Brisbane, I had a transit time of about 4 hours before heading to Doha. At exactly 3 hours before departure, I checked in and got my boarding pass and made my way to the lounge. Qatar uses the Dnata lounge in T3 which is quite terrible, to say the least. It’d be nice if the airline paid to use the Qantas or British Airways lounge.

    a large white airplane on a tarmac

    Qatar A350

    I had flown on the Qatar A350 once before and fell in love with the aircraft. The look, the onboard product and how quiet it is amazes me every time. To me, I much, much prefer the A350 over the 787. Boarding started ten minutes late, but priority boarding commenced shortly after.

    the inside of a plane

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    Qatar’s A350 features 36 B/E Super Diamond suites in a 1-2-1 configuration and 247 Economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. The Economy seats feature a pitch of 32”and a width of 18.”

    the inside of an airplane

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    As the Business cabin is in a 1-2-1 configuration, that means every passenger gets direct aisle access which is the standard in premium travel nowadays.

    a row of seats in a plane

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    When making the booking, I was initially assigned seat 9E which is in the middle of the cabin. At check-in, I checked Expertflyer and saw seat 1A was blocked and asked if I could instead have that seat. The check-in agent moved me and said I was lucky to get the seat as the flight was completely full in Business.

    a seat in a plane

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    When you arrive at your seat, you’ll find a pillow and blanket. There’s also a bottle of water in the side armrest.

    a pillow and a pillow on a seat

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The seats have a 17-inch touch screen for entertainment. The screen is extremely efficient and fast.

    a screen on a table

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The crew came around to introduce themselves to the passengers and offered a welcome drink consisting of orange juice, water, champagne or lemon and mint juice. I went with the traditional lemon and mint juice which is a favourite of mine when flying on Qatar.

    a glass of yellow liquid on a napkin

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    After offering the welcome beverage, the crew handed out the BRICS amenity kits.

    a black and brown leather case

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The kit includes facial mist, moisturiser, lip balm, socks and an eye mask. I’m still not a massive fan of the new kits and wish Qatar stayed with the Armani products as they were really quite lovely.

    a group of small bottles of cosmetics and a black bag on a table

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    Just after pushing back from the gate, it started to rain but our departure out of Singapore was smooth and extremely quiet.

    a large body of water with ships in it

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    Shortly after reaching our cruising altitude of 39,000 feet, the meal service started. I went with the non-alcoholic So Jennie champagne which is my favourite drink in the air, and I wish more carriers had it. It was also served with some warmed cashews.

    a glass of champagne next to a bowl of cashew nuts

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    I would have listed the menus from the flight. However, it appears I left them in a hotel; I blame the lack of sleep ;). Anyway, the Amuse Bouche on the flight was a herb crusted prawn.

    a plate of food with sauce

    Amuse Bouche

    Following that, I had the Arabic Mezze for the appetizer with Hommus and Mutabbal with pita bread.

    a plate of food on a table

    Arabic Mezze

    And for the main, I had the coconut fish. I can’t remember exactly what fish it was, but it was coated in a coconut and satay sauce which was beautiful!

    a plate of food on a table

    Coconut Fish

    And for the dessert, I went with the chocolate cake with cream and raspberry sauce.

    a plate of desserts on a table

    Chocolate Cake

    After feeling quite full of food, I decided to get some sleep before getting up and doing some work. On these shorter services, there’s no mattress or pyjamas offered in Business. After getting some sleep, I decided to connect to the internet and try to work. I find Qatar’s internet to be the second best in the Middle East after Etihad. The wifi is quite expensive for what they offer but still faster than Emirates. Etihad, on the other hand, has similarly priced plans but with no data caps which makes them the winner.

    a screenshot of a computer

    Qatar Airways A350 Wifi

    The Business Class cabin is split into two sections, and in the middle there’s a small self-serve area and it also has a great view of the forward Business cabin.

    a man sitting in a row of monitors on an airplane

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The self-serve area has Champagne, fruits, chocolates and small snacks available throughout the flight.

    a fruit basket on a counter

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    If you’re an Avgeek and want a view of the amazing looking wing, I can recommend the back section of Business Class. Another thing to note about the A350 is how the windows work. Unlike the 787, the A350 can completely block out light. The windows have small touch arrows and the windows dim with the small curtain, similar to the A380.

    an airplane wing and blue sky

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    Also located next to the self-serve area are two of three bathrooms for Business guests. They were kept decently clean but not to the level of Etihad, Singapore etc.

    a sink with a soap bottle and a bottle of liquid on it

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    There’s a few sets of toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as shaveing kits.

    a group of toothbrushes in plastic bags

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The bathrooms all house Rituals amenities.

    a bottle of body mist and body lotion

    Qatar A350 Business Class

     

    a toilet in a bathroom

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    As you can see, the cabin is visually stunning, especially with the purple and pink mood lighting.

    a group of people sitting in an airplane

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The Super Diamond seat is my all time favourite seat due to the space, comfort and overall feel. The Qatar seat, however, I feel lacks storage compartments compared to Virgin Australia, American etc.

    a seat in a plane

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    On the right side of the seat, you’ll find all of the seating controls in one spot.

    a close up of a seat

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    Below the seating panel, you’ll find the new style IFE remote which also features a call bell and lighting button.

    a black rectangular device with buttons and a red leather case

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The seat, of course, has in-seat power with both a 120V power point and a USB port which is found to the left of the IFE remote.

    a close up of a plug and socket

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    On the right-hand side of the seat is where the armrest is found. It has to be lowered for takeoff and landing but can be raised during the cruise for extra privacy. It also is where the headphones and water bottle is found.

    a plastic bottle in a seat

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    Another cool feature I love about the A350 is the smoking and seat belt signs. As the aircraft is full of modern technology, why not have an LED screen with the signs on it?

    a sign on a white surface

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    The flight was coming to an end and I ended up having 4 hours of sleep and managed to get some work done. As the crew started to prepare the cabin for the arrival, they handed out Godiva pralines to passengers.

    a box on a napkin

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    For a product that’s been flying for a few years, it’s still in great shape but you can spot the small imperfections if you look hard enough.

    a white object with a white strip on it

    Qatar A350 Business Class

    As we landed in Doha, I was expecting to park at a hard stand but to my surprise, we were given a gate and I was thankful for that as I really don’t like the heat which is ironic as an Australian living in Queensland 😉

    Overall

    The flight was really enjoyable and exceeded my expectations. Qatar crew can be quite inconsistent at times but on this flight, the crew were friendly and enthusiastic. The flight again proved why I love the A350 and I cannot wait to be onboard another one in the future.

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9 comments

Kilburnflyer May 25, 2017 - 12:18 am

Oneworld access rules dictate that you would have been able to access Qantas / BA lounge with a Qatar J ticket, assuming they are located in the same terminal. Just for future reference 👍

Zac George May 25, 2017 - 12:31 am

Sadly, neither lounge is open until the afternoon. :/

frank May 25, 2017 - 4:08 am

Zac – great review and I see you’re getting a lot of traction on boardingarea! Just a quick comment, it would be great if you showed what kind of miles and how many you used for your trips. It would be very helpful for us to asses whether we could replicate your itineraries and enjoy the same experience you had.
Keep the good work!

Zac George May 25, 2017 - 5:07 am

Thank you very much for your kind words, Frank. Usually, I do list it but somehow I forgot. I used 40,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles which is pretty fantastic for 8 hours in Business. Thank you for reading 🙂

Bob T. May 25, 2017 - 11:50 pm

Were those from a credit card bonus? If so wondering what the best card is to sign up for AA miles?

Zac George May 26, 2017 - 1:09 am

Hi Bob, no these were from a sale on AA points quite some time ago.

Jimmy Gottfredson May 26, 2017 - 3:50 am

Enjoyed the review, and the Qatar 350 J product looks very solid. It’s on my list to do some day. Found you a month or so ago and am enjoying the blog.

Zac George May 26, 2017 - 3:57 am

Thank you very much for your kind words Jimmy, the product sure is solid and the seat itself is my favourite!

The Jetset Boyz July 9, 2017 - 4:32 am

The A350 is a gorgeous plane to fly on, it’s so quiet it’s easy to forget you’re actually on a plane. We love how Finnair promote the fact “900km/h and the loudest noise in the cabin is the clinking of ice cubes”.

We really enjoyed Finnair’s offering & hospitality in business class on our recent A350 flight to Helsinki & back. Finnair have a great product and fly their A350 to & from London once a day and to an ever-increasing number of longhaul destinations.

Would we fly on the A350 again? Most definitely! Really looking forward to flying Qatar Airways’ A350 and checking out their new Q Suite! 👌

Comments are closed.