Qatar Airways: A350 Business Class DOH-SIN, 787 Economy DXB-DOH, Al Mourjan J Lounge

[yflyer]

I sample some of the buffet selections, which included a wide variety of salads, Arabic starters, as well as hot dishes.



Cous cous salad…



Tabouleh…



Broccoli soup and seafood bisque…



Hot selections including Salmon Falafel, chicken skewers and other Arabic delicacies…







And of course, dessert…





From the dining area, you had good views of the lounge below…



Overall, a wonderful dining experience to be had in the lounge, both in the mezzanine dining area, and in the casual dining lounge downstairs.

Cuisine aside, this lounge probably breaks the record for most number of chef's toques seen in an airline lounge...



As I was planning to sample some of the food inflight later on, it took all my willpower not to overstuff myself in the lounge...

[yflyer]

There is a large business centre…





Internet is complimentary (I suspect this is available throughout the airport, and not just the lounge) and reasonably fast.

There are, of course, also showers available. These come complete with bath towels, high-end toileties and W/C -- equivalent to a 5 star hotel bathroom.

[yflyer]

This is a spectacular lounge, which joints Cathay’s HKG lounges like The Wing F Lounge, the Qantas Sydney International F Lounge, the Qantas Hong Kong Lounge, and the Emirates Dubai T3 A380 Concourse First Class Lounge as among the best lounges I have ever been to.

Notice I am comparing the Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge to these other F Lounges. It is that good. It puts every other business class lounge I have visited to shame, including the SQ Silver Kris Business Class Lounge at Changi T3. I’ve not been to SQ’s TPR, and neither have I been to BA’s Concorde Room, but from what I have heard or read, these don’t appear to match the Al Mourjan lounge.

Perhaps Lufthansa's dedicated F Lounge in Frankfurt (Which I have read about, but not visited) provides a superior experience (Any regulars care to comment?) but again this is comparing an F lounge with Qatar’s business class offering.

Qatar’s F Lounge is not yet open, so F passengers also use the Al Mourjan lounge. I can only imagine what luxuries and pampering await F passengers when Qatar’s F Lounge opens.

[yflyer]

Time passed very quickly in this spectacular lounge, and before long it was time for the short walk to the B gates to board my DOH-SIN flight.





This was QR944, a 2.25am departure.



As expected, the flight was full, with the holding area almost completely full of passengers – a varied mix of Asians and Caucasians either returning home, or heading to Asia for holiday.

Boarding began on time, and for the 3rd time in a week, I stepped aboard Qatar’s A350.



To be continued!

[mr_botak]

Thanks for an excellent report so far.

I've used QR a lot lately. New airport is pluses and minuses. At busy times security is a zoo, and certainly whilst Al Mourjan was catering to everyone it was usually rammed. Hopefully better now the other lounge is open.

Amazingly, despite all the investment in the new airport, it's not unusual to be on a remote stand with associated bus trip. I think on balance the old premium terminal was a better experience.

The LHR lounge is IMO in a different league in terms of ambience, although the food is not as good as Al Mourjan.

Looking forward to the A350 for future trips as the 787 into SIN was so yesterday :-)

[yflyer]

Thanks for an excellent report so far.

Thanks, mr_botak!

I've used QR a lot lately. New airport is pluses and minuses. At busy times security is a zoo, and certainly whilst Al Mourjan was catering to everyone it was usually rammed. Hopefully better now the other lounge is open

Thanks for the feedback! I guess I was lucky on the two occasions I transited there. Too bad it seems to suffer from peak period crowds too, as you have mentioned.

Al Mourjan was busy but not overly so when I was there between 11pm and 1am. In fact, by 1am the crowds had thinned out considerably.

I have not been to the LHR QR lounge, but from what you have said, it sounds really impressive!

Looking forward to the A350 for future trips as the 787 into SIN was so yesterday :-)

Yes, funny how quickly the novelty of flying 787's has gone away. I blame the bean counters for cramming the 787 3-3-3 in the back, which has really dampened my enthusiasm for the Dreamliner.

Given the similarity in A350 and 787 configs on Qatar, I would go for the A350 every time, as it is essentially the same hard product in J and Y on both these types, but with the 787 cabin marginally smaller. I think J should be fairly equivalent, but 9-abreast 787 Y is no fun, and if travelling Y I would definitely prefer the A350.

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

I entered the A350 business class cabin and marvelled at the space before me…

The J cabin is comprised of two sections, separate by an open lobby/standing bar area under an attractive circular ceiling feature.



This is the view from the entrance looking forward towards the cockpit…



The view from the front of the aircraft, looking back towards the J cabin…



The seat partitions are fairly low, and coupled with the fact that there are no overhead bins in the centre section, the whole cabin feels very open and spacious.

There is no sense of being in “cubicles” that you get with BA, SQ and CX J products, all of which have higher walls and partitions between the seats. I guess you are trading off a little privacy for a greater sense of spaciousness and openness in the cabin.

The seats are wide enough, but are not as wide as SQ’s J product.

The seats are laid out in herringbone 1-2-1 layout.

Window seat 2A.



There is no difference between the aisle and the window seats, apart from the windows.



Each seat has a footwell that goes some distance forward, which provides a lot of legroom, especially in lie-flat mode.



Seat controls are intuitive…



A click on the lounge icon results in this angle…



…and a click on the “bed” icon reclines the bed fully flat (Although the seat does not miraculously transform into a rectangular single bed with headboard, the way the icon seems to indicate…)

[yflyer]

Useful shelf for you to put all your “barang barang”….



LED reading lamp with two brightness settings…



Another storage compartment lower down, and these compartments are actually large enough to be useful, unlike some of the cubby holes and shelves on the various SQ J seat permutations.





A/C Power and USB within easy reach. Only one USB, though.



Lower compartment, which looks perfect for shoes.



And on the side of your seat, in the armrest, yet another compartment, for water and headphones.



This side armrest can be raised up or down to provide extra space for sleeping if required.



The headphones are large, high-quality Phitek active noise cancelling headphones, which sounded very good. A detailed, airy sound with fine treble and good bass. One of the few airline headsets I actually enjoyed listening to.

[yflyer]

Large, soft fabric pillow and thin, quilted blanket.



A plain looking black amenity kit from Giorgio Armani.



The contents ranged from the ordinary (thin socks, basic-looking eyeshades) to the impressive, such as a large tube of after shave balm….



…and a small glass bottle of “aqua di Gio” for men.



I would assume ladies get a different amenity kit.

A decent, but unexceptional amenity kit, I thought.

The pyjamas, however, were wonderful.

They came in a fabric slipcase…



And were soft, and immaculately tailored.







It was great to receive such high quality PJ’s in J on a 7+ hour flight.

[yflyer]

Bottles of water were handed out.



You were asked for your choice of hot or cold towel.



Menus and Wine List in the magazine rack in each seat.

[yflyer]

A warm and friendly cabin crew member came over and introduced herself…

“Hello, my name is Barbara, and I’ll be looking after you on this flight…”

The style of in flight service on this flight was that, throughout the flight, it was the same cabin crew member who took care of you from start to finish. I thought this was a great approach to cabin service...

My pre-take off drink was the Taittinger Rose Champagne. The other champagne selection available was the Billecart-Salmon.



Some of the other wines available on this flight were…









A good selection of spirits and cocktails…

[yflyer]

Take-off into the night sky, although much of the remainder of the 7 and a half hour flight took place in daylight, with window shades down…



Flight status and maps available on the handheld touchscreen controller.



Some cabin views…





Although this was an overnight flight taking off at 2.25am, there was full catering offered -- none of this truncated "sleeper service” menu nonsense that some airlines have put in place for the shorter red-eye flights (Many people would prefer to sleep, but for what folks pay for J, at least give them the option of eating properly).



On this flight, it was “on demand dining”, you were invited to order anything on this menu, in any order, at any time you wanted, during the flight.

You were given full freedom to have an elaborate dinner AND a full breakfast on this 7+ hour flight if you so desired.







Now if you were a seasoned J traveller, you might be tempted to just sleep through it all. But for me, I mustered all available energy and wakefulness to stuff my face, sacrificing all but 2 hours of flat-bed sleep to sample the cuisine on offer.

[yflyer]

Dinner service began with an amuse-bouche… a plump, juicy scallop in a mint-yogurt sauce…what a nice way to begin…



The table was set for you…



The meal began with egg-drop soup…



This was delicious…I enjoyed every spoonful…



I chose the smoked tuna salad as my starter. The other choice was a selection of Classic Arabic mezze…I had no doubt the mezze would be good, but it would probably taste like any mezze on the ground. I felt like something different.



This tasted very good…smoked tuna was a nice change from smoked salmon, and the tuna tasted great as well, almost like tuna sashimi.



I chose the braised beef with rice for my main course, and rubbed my eyes in disbelief when it was presented to me…



A beautifully presented dish that tasted excellent as well.

A very generous portion of tender braised beef, accompanied by rice and vegetables. I was a little apprehensive about the description of the sauce, describing it as “lemon grass sauce”, which seemed like an unusual combination to go with beef, but the sauce was tasty, with the lemon grass flavour practically imperceptible. As good as any dish in a fine restaurant on the ground.



By that point I was quite full, and skipped both the cheese platter and fruit, and went straight for dessert, which was a nice way to finish…



A slim bar of Valhrona chocolate after dinner…

[yflyer]

Before going to bed, I checked out the IFE selection on the large high definition widescreen…



This was, of course, full video and audio on demand, with a great selection (The same IFE is available in Y as well.) Both audio and video quality were great.



Handheld controller to select movie/TV programs and audio tracks…



Again, special mention for the superb audio quality from the Phitek headphones.



Some of the inflight wifi plans available (Roaming SMS using your phone’s mobile was also available), but I didn’t sign up this time, as I was planning to sleep for the remainder of the flight.

[yflyer]

I reclined my seat into a fully flat bed (No getting up to flip required), donned my eye-shades and went quickly to sleep…







I found that the bed was long enough to stretch out, although the width meant that I couldn’t curl up as much as I could on SQ’s J product. I slept very well on this seat. As a matter of personal preference, I actually prefer SQ’s J flip down flat bed, because of the extra lateral space you get, but I imagine some folks might like the fact that on QR you don’t need to stand up to flip over the bed to sleep.