Review: Qatar Airways Doha to Mumbai QSuites Business Class

After a quick trip, it was finally time to go home. I took the long route from the Al Mourjan Lounge and arrived at my gate at about 7:45 pm for my 8:30 pm flight. I did find some nice facilities at the Doha airport along the way. For instance, there was a television area in the public area, where people could sit on couches and watch some television, or Macs for public use. Swish I say.

Boarding had not started for my flight when I arrived, but the gates were open, and queue busters were organized so that everyone would move in an orderly fashion. However, it seemed everyone had already moved inside the holding area.

I scanned in my boarding pass with the agent and was sent inside after a document check.

The holding area was pretty organized with everyone waiting up patiently. Seating was arranged by zones for the passengers.

In about 20 minutes, boarding was called, and Priority Boarding went first on this daily Qatar Airways Doha to Mumbai service.

Qatar Airways QR 556
Doha (DOH) – Mumbai (BOM)
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Departure: 08:27 PM
Arrival: 02:22 AM (+1)
Duration: 03:25 hours
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 1A (QSuite Business Class)
Meal Service: Dinner

On this leg, I was seated on 1A. As soon as I boarded, the crew welcomed me on board and pointed me to my seat. In about two minutes after I landed up there, they were over to collect my coat. I was then welcomed on board by Elenor who was the Cabin Service Director on this flight.

As usual, on the seat was waiting for me a pillow, one of those real quilts, and a Nappa Dori amenity kit. Like I mentioned earlier, Qatar Airways offers Nappa Dori amenity kits on their regional routes with the QSuites, and no throw-pillows are given out.

Here are some pictures of the Boeing 777ER version of the QSuite in bright light. It is hands down one of the most elegant and private business class cabins I have seen in the longest time! Suites for Business Class should be the done deal going forward after all!

As I mentioned in my previous review, the QSuites are faced backward for the window seats.

The seats away from the window had a slightly different configuration.

Here is the configuration of the forward seat in the middle rows. Slightly different but the same design principles.

Since I’ve already described the seat before in an earlier post, I will just let the pictures do the talking.

The Control Panel

The Storage Box next to your Seat

Big Wide Cubby

Massive TV Screen for Business Class

The lovely cabin crew came back to ask me about my preference for a pre-departure beverage, and a hot or a cold napkin. I chose to go for the mint lemonade, and a cold towel as usual.

The crew distributed menus afterwards for this flight. Here is the champagne offering from the wine list.

Here is the rest of the wine list that was offered, which covered almost all the geographies with good wine I think:

Chardonnay: Laroche Chablis Premier Cru 2015, France
Sauvignon Blanc: Leyda Single Vineyard Garuma 2016, Chile
Assemblage Catarrato & Pinot Bianco: Leone D’Almerita Terre Siciliane 2016, Italy
Medoc: Chateau Haut Condissas 2010, Bordeaux France
Shiraz: Hollick Wrattonbully 2015, South Australia
Assemblage Petite Syrah & Zinfandel: Conundrum Red 2014, California
Sweet Tokaji: Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos 2013, Hungary
Port Wine: Gran Cruz Porto 1992, Douro Valley, Portugal

There was also a selection of cocktails available.

The food menu is reproduced below.

I noticed the gentleman across me being slightly concerned about his suite door not entirely closing. The crew informed him about the lock they had installed for the moment, which would be unlocked after take off.

Important to note that the lock for the QSuite doors can only be unlocked/locked with a special screwdriver available with the crew.

I was plain tired at this point, so I just wanted to catch some sleep. However, not before take-off and a sampling of the airline’s Indian menu again. So I plugged in the noise-cancelling headset and started to watch a movie.

I don’t remember which one, but I do remember that I noticed the Picture in Picture feature for the first time here.

Very soon, we were on our way. We got some gorgeous views of Doha on our way out with the lights on.

After take-off and level, the crew got to work quickly. While the cabin was dimmed for the rest of the flight to allow for those who wanted to sleep, the crew started the service by bringing the drinks to those who ordered them.

Unlike the leg on the way out, I did receive the perfect glass of bubbles this time around, a Lanson Rose champagne along with some warm nuts.

About thirty minutes after the drinks service, the crew came back to check if I wanted a refill. I asked them instead to get my meal service done quickly since at this point I was pretty tired.

The crew cleaned up the glasses and came back within 5 minutes to set up the table. First came the bread-basket, then came the appetizers, which were a whole meal in themselves perhaps.

The appetizer I chose was the Pine Nut Chicken Cheese Tikka with Mint Chutney, which came with a helping of Khandvi and Potato Pomegranate Chaat as well. My best pictures don’t do justice to it, given how dark it was.

Service moved quickly, and the next course was brought out as soon as I finished the first one. I’d gone with the Saffron Chicken Korma, which came with a helping of Green Peas Pulao and what seemed like a helping of Tofu on the side. I was also brought a serving of Mango Chutney and Raita.

The crew also rolled out the bread basket, and I asked for a Parantha to be served.

The meal was excellent, and I loved the fact that Qatar’s catering arm was able to get a good Indian chef to do these meals for their Indian flights. I’ve tried the Indian meals on other non-Indian airlines as well, but this was something else.

However, the best part of the meal was what came in the end. The Chocolate Florentine gateaux was beautifully done and was the perfect closure to this meal.

While I was still hooked to the Onyx One IFE, I was sleepy too, so I helped myself to some sleep. I had about 1 hour of sleep, so I did not wait for an FA to make the bed for me, the usual way a blogger would do. I just made it myself.

When the crew came and saw me do that, they asked if they could make the bed for me, to which I said no. They came back with a box of Godiva pralines which come along with the turndown service.

Again, the best part of the QSuite is the comfort. I could sleep on my side without a problem at all.

We touched down right about on time, and pulled over next to some beautiful International traffic that was preparing for the night’s departure out of Mumbai, including Lufthansa’s Boeing 747.

Bottomline

While Qatar Airways has hired crew from across the world, they have done an excellent job of bringing together a great team who feel affiliated with the airline. This is unlike at least one of their Middle-Eastern peers who have not been able to train the crew enough so that they behave as one team.

It was my first experience with Qatar Airways QSuite product, and over three flights in three days, all I have to reiterate is it is the best Business Class out there right now. The privacy that it offers and the high standard of the product is not comparable.

Have you flown the Qatar Airways QSuite? How do you rate the product?

Comments

Jazz says:

May 29, 2018 at 1:04 am

How are you finding availability with AA miles on this? Ba never shows anything with this route and expert flyer i couldn’t find Qatar airlines.

- Ajay says:
  
  May 29, 2018 at 9:15 am
  
  @Jazz, no one wrote here that it was booked with AA miles.