Suite Dreams: A First-Timer's Flight Review on Qatar Airways' Qsuites

Since Qatar Airways announced the introduction of Qsuites I had always wanted to fly on an aircraft with that service.  Despite flying with Qatar many times it seemed like it was never going to happen - either the route we flew didn’t have Qsuites, or the route did from Doha but the flight times from the UK just didn’t marry up.  On checking in online, the flight was as expected, and as usual row 1 was “under airport control’. I went back into the booking a few hours later just to check whether any other seats had become bookable and noticed that our seats had been moved but clearly on a differently configured aircraft.  Despite Qsuites having single suites at the windows and then double seats in the middle, we had been allocated one seat of a double seat and a single suite at the window. I contacted their customer services team, who confirmed that the aircraft had indeed been changed and that it was configured with Qsuites - yay!  Despite a bit of toing and froing at check in, as there always seems to be with seat allocations, we were given the two double seats 1E and 1F. Finally I was going to be able to experience what Qsuites were like. The photo below shows the cabin, the two seats to the front (2D/G) face forward and are designed to have the optional screen in-between for passengers travelling independently. The row behind (3E/F) seats are side-by-side for couples and have slightly more privacy being away from the aisle. Row 1 is rear-facing.

View from row 1 towards the back of the business class cabin

On this flight the cabin was actually quiet, there were only about 12 passengers travelling out of a maximum of 36 lie-flat seats which is unusual as most Qatar flights we have flown on have been much more occupied.  Lighting changed throughout the flight depending on the time, overall a really lovely cabin environment and, as always, excellence from the Qatar Airways cabin crew, regardless of flight in my experience.

View from row 1 - you can see how the divider would slide across to create a four-seat configuration

Each individual suite, or dual suite in the middle, are superbly appointed - a really comfortable, amply spaced seat which folds down to a fully-flat bed at the touch of a button.  The entertainment system is second to none, a large screen facing you with a great choice of films, TV shows and music from across the globe. There’s lots of space between the seat and the aisle, with an extra storage bin, and (after take-off) the doors to each suite are released by the cabin crew such that they can be closed for more privacy.  There’s the usual plush blanket, soft pillow and an excellent amenity kit. The seats we occupied in row 1 (E/F) are designed to be combined into a four with row 2 (D/G), by moving aside a screen in between the rows, if say a family or colleagues were travelling together. The picture below of 1K gives a better idea of an individual suite set up.

Seat 1K of the Qatar Airways A350-900

Seat 1F of the Qatar Airways A350-900

As well as all the other really good things I’ve said about Qatar, there is the food………………. Although I’ve now had the candle on subsequent non-Qsuite flights, this was the first time I’d seen a meal being served with the added atmosphere of a candle (albeit electric as you would clearly expect from a safety perspective) it really make you feel like you’re eating in a very fine restaurant. The food is always excellent quality, there is a good choice and presentation is second to none, considering the limitations of the environment in which you are being served. I’m trying not to eat too much bread at the moment, but presented with a bread basket like this (especially with a pretzel roll), butter and rock salt it’s impossible to leave.

This is the just the starter - will I demolish the bread basket?

The main course again can’t be faulted, perfect presentation and served piping hot.

Main course - pretzel roll first to go, followed by the white roll - a third would just be too much, even if it is wholemeal.

Let’s pretend I just stopped after having the main course - if there’s no photo evidence of sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream then let’s just say this never happened. Great to have a dinner like this, feels so private and almost like in a cocoon watching a great film. Long flight ahead so it’s great the flat bed is so comfortable to be able to get a few hours sleep.

Just what you need after a daytime sleep - wake up to a very indulgent afternoon tea.

Had no problems catching a few hours sleep, especially with the privacy of the Qsuite and the fact that the cabin was only about a third full on this flight. Probably could have done without the afternoon tea being presented before arrival, but looking like this was hard to resist. Again, like everything with Qatar Airways, flawlessly presented and executed. All in all a brilliant flight, the only drawback with the Qsuite is that it’s so fabulous, going back to the older seating just doesn’t seem the same, even although other configurations (regardless of version) always seem to be extremely comfortable and well maintained - guess this is one of the advantages of Qatar having a very young fleet of aircraft.