On flights to the Arabian peninsula, Qatar Airways does not offer a Business Class product. Or rather, their premium product in the forward cabin is marketed as First Class. The good news, of course, is that this gives you access to the monumental Qatar Airways First Class lounge in Doha, even if you’re continuing your journey in Business Class.

Boarding

The boarding pass shows a boarding time of 00h10 for a 00h55 departure, which seems rather excessive. But, heck, I could do with a little walk. So I check out of the hotel at 00h00 and mosey along the C concourse to gate C81.

Gate C81 is, frankly, a hovel that reminds me a lot of the old Doha airport, which was a real dump. It’s a bus gate, which means our aircraft is parked on a remote stand. The boarding process makes little to no sense. There is a separate ‘priority’ lane for First Class passengers, but as there’s no First Class bus transfer to the aircraft, they’re only boarding Economy Class passengers. I ask the gate agent if I can’t just get on the regular bus, instead of just standing here like a twit at the ass crack of dawn, but she says no. Uhm… okay? Eventually, the last of the Economy Class passengers are rounded up and the First Class passengers are allowed to board. The transfer bus for premium passengers is ridiculous. I mean, the amount of available space is extravagant, especially considering that passengers likely rarely ever spend more that about five minutes on these busses.

I don’t know how many aircraft change notifications I received in between making the booking and eventually taking the flight. Eventually, the bus pulls up and parks right next to a B 787-9.

The Cabin & Seat

On the B 787-9, Qatar Airways has installed a reverse herringbone seat that is different to the seat on the B 787-8. This seat looks a lot like what Air France has installed on its 787s. However, I think Qatar Airways has gone for the super flimsy edition. It’s certainly not as solid as the QSuite. What is interesting, though, is that the seats in the middle are turned away from each other to face the aisle.

Service & Crew

There is another packaged Diptyque towel at my seat, and a bottle of still water is stowed in the small compartment that also contains the earphones. The crew take orders for drinks, and I ask for sparkling water. The purser comes to introduce herself and tells me the flight time tonight will be 45 minutes.

The Meal – Midnight Snack

The menu is already in the seatpocket when I board. I’m surprised they serve a meal, let alone have a menu on such a short service.

Once we’re airborne, I’m even more surprised that they even bother to put down a tablecloth ahead of delivering the actual food. The tray is nicely presented and the meal hits the spot nicely, especially the almond tart is a delight and tastes lovely.

Arrival in Dubai

Before the trays are removed again, we’re already descending into Dubai. While the airspace is not quite so busy during this time of night, there is still quite some traffic in the air and on the ground. But things go efficiently well. We park at our stand at 03h16. By 04h10 I’m already in my room at the hotel near Burj Khalifa.

Conclusion

The delay on the Paris to Doha flight and the subsequent disruption were obviously rather an inconvenient nuisance. Having to attend a meeting at 09h00 after only two hours of sleep is not my idea of a good time. But these things happen. Perhaps next time I should plan better and arrive a day earlier just in case. With the current situation in the region, I guess we just have to accept that anything could happen. Apart from the disruption, I quite enjoyed these two flights with Qatar Airways. The QSuite really is quite something. The amount of personal space is impressive. Obviously, a lot of thought went into the design of the seat and into optimising the storage space in the seat. The seat on the B 787-9 is nowhere near as nice. The other thing I noticed on the 787 was that with the overhead bins open, there’s hardly any space to move in the cabin without the risk of bumping your bonce. The overall impression on the 787 is that it’s rather flimsy and not very sturdy. I’m really not a fan.