Review: Qatar Airways A359 Qsuite, Doha-Stockholm

Qatar Airways A350 Qsuite cabin, Doha to Stockholm 

Flight: QR171
Departure time in Doha (DOH): 15:30
Arrival time in Stockholm (ARN): 20:45
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900 (A7-ALY)
Seat: 3A, rear facing
Duration: 6h 15m
Date of flight: April 3, 2019
*This is a revenue ticket, Business Class flight #190


Trip to Singapore, Vietnam & Hong Kong on Qatar Airways Qsuite

It´s time again to qualify for British Airways Gold status and with this first trip to Asia flying on Qatar Airways, I will get 560 tier points. This trip is an open jaw, flying from Oslo to Singapore and back from Hong Kong to Stockholm, booking flights on Scoot, Vietjet and Jetstar to fly us within Asia. With my second trip (to Singapore in August) and my third trip (to Bangkok in December granting Qatar Airways stays with OneWorld), I will get more than 1500 tier points which is more than enough to get OneWorld emerald status again. Also during this trip, we stayed at 8 different Hilton properties making my total stay to 19, and closer to the 30 stays needed to renew my Hilton Diamond status. 

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Video from YouTube πŸ“Ί


Check-in

We arrived at Hamad International Airport around 12:20pm for our 3:30pm flight. There is a special check-in area for business class (left side) and first class (right side) passengers.

Business class check-in counters

Seating area for business class passengers.

Since we already had our boarding pass, we went straight to passport and security control and within 5 minutes after arriving at the airport, we were on the way to the lounge πŸ‘

Al Mourjan Lounge

We headed to the restaurant upstairs and had some food from the buffet, after which we came downstairs and "worked" a bit until it was 2:30pm and left for our boarding gate.

Hamad International Airport, Airside

It is hard to miss the centerpiece of the airport which is the lamp bear πŸ˜‰

Tag Heuer πŸ‘

Christian Dior section

Boarding, Gate C4

The seat map when I booked this flight looked like we would have another flight on Qsuite so I asked the agent who confirmed that it was in fact a Qsuite operated flight πŸ‘ Boarding began at 3:02pm, with business class passengers and those with status getting priority boarding.

Aircraft, Airbus A350-900 (A7-ALY)

The Airbus A350-900 flying us back home to Stockholm

Qsuite Cabin

Unlike the B777 which have 42 Qsuites and the A350-1000 which have 46 Qsuites, the A350-900 only has 36 Qsuites. The main business class cabin consists of 24 seats from rows 1-6. Then behind the lavatory is the mini-business class cabin with 12 more seats from rows 7-9.

View of the cabin

Qsuite 3A

Welcome to my Qsuite, 3A 😍

Just like on my HKG-DOH flight the day before, this is a rear facing seat, although instead of being in the middle of the cabin, I chose a window seat.

Personal screen

Coat hanger and reading lamp

Storage for headphones, bottle of water and magazines.

The storage (which serves as my left armrest) can be raised and lowered which is practical πŸ‘ On Mike´s seat which is front facing, the storage opens from behind, while on my seat, it opens from the front side.

The right armrest as expected can also be raised and lowered πŸ‘

The side table had the pillow, blanket and the amenity kit on it.

Qsuite blanket. There is an open storage directly below the side table and where I kept the amenity kit and the menu card/wine list πŸ˜‰

The amenity kit consisted of a Brics (soft bag) and the usual skin care products from Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio as well as an eye mask, socks and earplugsπŸ˜‰

Seat controls (including a do-not-disturb button), IFE handheld remote

IFE controller and headphones

Unlike the IFE controller on the previous flight on the B777, this one has the center part being thinner than the rest.

I was not sure what the first sign was but the next ones were the headphones port and power port. I noticed that two ports on the B777 were missing here,  the USB port and the HDMI port, and which are actually located below the screen on the A350-900.

HDMI and USB ports located below the personal screen

A350-900 Q safety instruction card

Inflight magazines, duty free magazines and air-sickness bag

Tray table

Windows

Blinds

Personal air vents

From the movie selection, I had a look at award winners and ended up watching "Memoirs of a Geisha".

Footrest

View of the door from my seat

View of the wing from my seat

I also had a look at seats 5E and 5F which were our rear facing seats on the flight from Hong Kong to Doha.

Inflight Wifi

Just like on the previous flight, Super Wifi was also offered here, and fortunately this time, it worked really well so I was able to enjoy the one-hour complimentary use πŸ‘ Wifi for the whole flight costs 10 USD which is not that bad either.

Predeparture Drink

Moments after settling in, a lovely flight attendant from Indonesia came to welcome me on the flight and take my drinks order as well my choice of towel. I had a glass of apple juice which was served with hot towel.

Around 3:20pm, the captain came on the PA to welcome us onboard and to give us some flight information including our flight time of 5 hours and 45 minutes.

Newspapers were also offered, and I was informed that she will place them in front while the magazines can be found at the back. Menu card and wine list were also offered informing me of the Dine on demand option.

Inflight Safety Video

At 3:28pm, the inflight safety video was played on the screen and 2 minutes later, we began our pushback. A few minutes later, we had a smooth take off.

Take Off

View after take off

Moments after the seat belt sign was turned off, the flight attendants started unlocking the doors.

Dining

Menu card and wine list

Menu card

Beverage list

Champagne

Chardonnay

Wines

Wines

Wine, port

Spirits, beers, cognac and Liqueurs

From Qatar Airways "Pre-select Dining" service, I pre-ordered my main course which was confirmed by the flight attendant, who also took my drinks order.

The service started with some warm nuts and a glass of apple juice.

Table set up with a candle πŸ‘

Amuse bouche πŸ‘

For my appetizer, I had the Centre cut salmon with black and white sesame seed which was very good πŸ˜‹

My main course, the Braised Beef Cheek was fantastic πŸ˜‹

For dessert, I had the Fresh berries with mint syrup which was perfect.

Unlike on Turkish Airlines flights where they normally include toothpicks in the set of cutlery, I had to ask for the flight attendant for them. They are real dental floss though which are much nicer πŸ‘


To end the meal, a box of Godiva chocolates were given which I enjoyed with a cup of green tea. A hot towel was also provided.

Quad Suites

In the beginning of the flight, I asked one of the flight attendants if I could have a photo of the Quad Suite so after enjoying my meal, he informed me that he had prepared them for us.

Quad Suites

Quad Suites

Qatar logo near the second door

The mini business class cabin

Pre-landing Snacks

At 6:23pm, with 1 hour 54 minutes left before landing, the CSD came to ask if I wanted something to drink. Unlike the flight from Oslo to Doha (non-Qsuite) where they had light options and an onboard bar, there was none offered on this flight. I decided to have some green tea which was served with some cookies.

Green tea and cookies

Lavatory

With a total of 36 suites, I find it odd that they only have 2 lavatories here. The load was very light on this flight but I can´t imagine what it would be like if the flight is full.

One of two lavatories, both of which are located between the cockpit and row 1.

Rituals products

Lavatory

Airshow

Airshow enroute to Stockholm

Landing in Stockholm Arlanda Airport

Around 7:41pm, the captain came on the PA to give us updated flight information and that we would be landing in 40 minutes, with the current temperature in Stockholm of 6 degrees. Moments later, the crew started to lock the doors of the suites. Lastly, the flight attendants came to thank us for flying with Qatar Airways.

We landed in Stockholm Arlanda Airport at 8:19pm with a temperature of 2 degrees (OMG it´s like winter again). About 9 minutes later, we reached our gate.

View from my window upon reaching our gate.

CONCLUSION

Having flown Qsuite on the Hong Kong to Doha leg, I was just as ecstatic to be on this flight. This flight was even better as it was a daylight and I could really see (and appreciate) the beauty of the Qsuites. I thought the service was very friendly and the whole crew were actually very enthusiastic. The dining service was impressive although I think it is still not in par with that of Turkish Airlines business class. It was also strange that they only have one meal service on this almost 6-hour flight. Of course, one can always have a cup of green tea and biscuits the way I did πŸ˜‰

Overall, it was still a very nice flight since the Qsuite is definitely the best business class in the world and with the price we paid, it was really worth it. To all the crew on this flight, Shukran 😍

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