I not too long ago flew in Enterprise Class from Cairo to Los Angeles with Qatar Airways. I used to be curious how Qatar Airways would take care of the “new regular” this time. Cairo Airport will be fairly chaotic on its greatest days, and so was it on my journey day. We received there about three hours early – I had sufficient time (or so I believed).
Let’s check out the A350 Qsute expertise. Photograph: Vincenzo Tempo | Simple flying
Examine-in expertise
Cairo Airport presents an extra problem in comparison with different worldwide airports – you need to undergo two extra safety checks earlier than you’ll be able to attain the check-in counter. Whereas the primary examine to enter the constructing was informal and fast, the second examine (together with all baggage) had massive crowds. Whereas the road was shifting rapidly, it took a great hour to undergo this “preliminary inspection”.
We realized that this wasn’t simply Qatar Airways – in truth, each main Gulf airline had a number of flights deliberate – all wide-body plane and all from “our” terminal. Emirates even gave the impression to be refueling an A380 whereas Saudia flew to every of its hubs only a few minutes aside. Discuss air journey restoration!
There are not any precedence strains for all safety checks.
Examine-in was pleasant with a VERY educated and pleasant agent. It nonetheless took a strong 20 minutes, contemplating all of the paperwork for this journey.
After checking in, we needed to undergo immigration (which did not take too lengthy) and one other safety examine (this time with out baggage) that got here and not using a precedence line.
Lastly we made our solution to the lounge that Qatar Airways makes use of (additionally a Precedence Go Lounge). The lounge had a variety of scorching gadgets and lots of drinks out there. It will need to have simply been renovated not too long ago – it seemed glowing new and solely had a couple of passengers in it.
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Flight expertise Cairo to Doha
We went to the gate early and to our shock boarding began (nearly an hour earlier than departure). Qatar Airways makes use of a mixture of plane for the brief flight from Cairo to Doha. Though it was deliberate for a 777, we relied on many of the 777s to be upgraded to QSuites. Sadly, this was not the case with this plane, and the inside was actually extra dated.
Regardless of the early begin of boarding, it might take us for much longer than our scheduled departure time to get began. This was probably as a consequence of delayed passengers – no shock given the prolonged check-in and safety course of.
The service and catering for this flight have been superb and similar to what we might anticipate in any Qatar Enterprise Class. To be sincere, the QSuite expertise would have been a bit interrupted on a 2.5 hour flight anyway.
The arrival in Doha was particular as we received the primary parking zone away from the terminal. The bus journey itself was much like the flight time of many Gulf flights – a great 20 minutes from the parking place to the terminal drop-off.
With just a few minutes left, we had no likelihood of entering into the superb Al Mourjan Enterprise Class Lounge. As an alternative we went by one other safety examine (this time it was empty and dinner was fast) to our gate for the flight to Los Angeles.
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Flight expertise from Doha to Los Angeles
Qatar Airways QSuites on an A350 seem like barely smaller than their cousins on a 777 plane – this can be fully subjective, however the cabin appears a couple of inches smaller (in width) and the QSuites appear a bit shorter ( in size).
The suites can be found in a 1-2-1 configuration. About half of the seats face ahead, the opposite half face again. The 2 center seats can be found in another configuration – one row has a bigger partition (for optimum privateness) and the following row has a minimal partition – permitting for a linked sleeping space (for households and {couples} touring collectively).
Despite the fact that we booked these tickets collectively, we weren’t in a position to decide on a seat within the center previous to the flight. We first settled in our private suites on the precise aspect of the plane and requested the flight attendants for a shared suite. You promised to see this, however this airplane can be nearly 100% full on our solution to the US.
Boarding was gradual and we stayed parked a great hour after our scheduled departure time. Thankfully, nonetheless, our scheduled flight time was simply over 14 hours, and we might nonetheless be anticipated to reach in Los Angeles early.
We had minimal taxi ready time and rolled into the horizon at 2:45 a.m. native time. I anticipated many of the passengers to fall asleep immediately, however they did not – about half of the enterprise class cabin was prepared for a late dinner. Amazingly, the flight attendants had negotiated with two different passengers that we might transfer into their seats after take-off. We instructed the crew to instantly add the mattress sheet and arrange the mattress.
This isn’t a Singapore Airways First Class A380 (with its full-size mattress), however with the added delicate leather-based prime it seemed like a double mattress. The mattress does seem like very vast (suppose a big queen-size mattress), however the size is proscribed by the opposite passengers’ “footrest”. To stretch out at 6’4, I even needed to transfer my toes all the way in which into the little “footrest”. That is completely high-quality for some time, nevertheless it will get annoying once you spend 14 hours in sleep mode (which I did in fact).
I had a bit of nightcap and saved dinner for later (risking it bought out). You could have the choice to order gadgets earlier than mattress – though I wasn’t positive what I wished but. The huge TV display screen and the included noise-canceling headphones make it nearly a cinematic expertise.
On our means by the ‘arctic waters’ I used to be nonetheless in a position to get 9 hours of fine sleep with out main interruptions. This was an amazingly quiet flight – the cabin itself, however there was principally no turbulence throughout your complete flight both. The A350 can be a really quiet plane and there was no engine or AC noise. I used to be undoubtedly in ‘heaven’.
At instances, I used the one hour free free WiFi, which was fairly steady and had speeds of as much as 2 Mbit. That was sufficient for studying emails, however too gradual for critical work.
After waking up we loved the catering. We tried to get one thing to eat with each single dish that was on supply (and it was a protracted menu!). It was good, however not as thrilling as I had hoped. Possibly it was simply the selection in fact? It was very edible and good, however extra bland and fewer refined in comparison with what I bear in mind.
In abstract
I felt the 15 hours of QSuites was too brief and I might have preferred to have spent one other 12 hours being handled like royalty by the Qatar Airways employees. My solely gripe is the restricted size of the QSuites seat (for anybody over 6 toes) which makes stretching out a problem. I used to be additionally not pleased with the Cairo airport expertise (a bit of out of Qatar Airways management).
Nearly all the pieces that’s managed by Qatar Airways seems to be nearly excellent, the trendy plane, the just about excellent QSuite expertise, the superb catering (each drinks and meals), the nice lounge expertise and the exceptionally pleasant employees .
I am trying ahead to my subsequent QSuites flight.
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