Qatar Airways

BKK-MAD return with a short layover in new Doha airport. Perfect. From the ease of online booking to check-in from gate to flight services (food is really good and Beverage selection is superb.) Inflight entertainment is Excellent. The headrest that folds makes for a comfortable trip. I am 5'7" leg room was very adequate even if the person in front reclined. Staff were always friendly and smiling.

First time flying Qatar Airways from Paris CDG to Kuala Lumpur via Doha return. First leg unsatisfactory as the 2-2-2 cabin felt quite cramped. Staff forgot my main course but apologised and this was quickly sorted out. At the lounge in Doha there was a wait for the shower but staff were efficient and I got a shower room within 15 minutes. Doha to Kuala Lumpur was excellent. Great service onboard. Return trip KL to Doha similarly good. However food was at best only average on these flights. Doha to Paris was in first class. On arrival in Doha the lounge was the same as the previous - no separate first class lounge. Another wait to have a shower but this was quick and got a shower room in less than 10 minutes. Service onboard the Doha to Paris flight in first class was excellent. The stewardess was attentive and efficient. There were no other passengers in the first class cabin so I felt really pampered. Unfortunately the food was only average and the entertainment channels were not that great. Pity as the service onboard was top class. I also noticed that the advertised chauffeur drive from the terminal to the plane for first class was not made available to me. Overall I find Qatar Airways provide great service onboard but I would have some hesitation flying with them in the future for a few reasons. Firstly I prefer airlines that offer Business Class seats with direct access to the aisle. Secondly the lounge while impressive should have more shower rooms to cope with the volume of passengers. Thirdly Qatar does not provide a limousine service to and from the airport. Finally the food and entertainment onboard should be better. For flights to and from Kuala Lumpur the option of Malaysian dishes should be provided. The choice of music needs to be revamped. I will be comparing prices with other airlines closely before deciding if I would fly Qatar Airways again. I would recommend it for their excellent staff onboard but the service on the ground can be improved.

Finally I get to fly on the Dreamliner! And Qatar Airways made the experience world class. As you board the plane you notice your first difference. The entrance of the 787 is very open and grand. You nearly feel like you're walking into a lobby area. Then you notice the windows which are truly big. Love the expansive feeling you get by being so connected to the outside. When you finally get to the new business class seat which has a very spacious 1-2-1 configuration you realize why Qatar is one of the few 5-star airlines. The reverse herring bone layout has you facing into the large windows and has by far the best design I've ever seen given this configuration even in sleep mode. An excellent dining experience. If there is one slight doubt it's with the new IFE system which takes some time getting used to. It's a complete redesign and not always logical. At least to me. Did I mention the spacious lavatories? Their Dreamliner experience is perfection.

Superb service with Qatar on business class. The only downer is the lounge in Paris which is shared with a few other airlines and offered only packaged snacks and a few sandwiches. Inflight - so nice to be able to choose when we wanted to eat. The food was fresh and delicious and presented to us whenever we wanted. The service could not have been better. Yes and pyjamas and the extras too. Qatar were superb in every way (did I mention the Krug at the lounge in Doha?) If only they flew into Adelaide!

Heathrow-Doha-Ho Chi Minh B777-300ER and it was a pleasant and a comfortable journey. Great cabin crew very friendly and polite. The food onboard seems less then last time in 2013 and that was a bit disappointment. Transfer at DOH beautiful new airport great design. Flight from Doha to Ho Chi Minh with the A330. The IFE onboard seems pretty old old seats and no touch screen. Many movies but not so many movies in the action category. SGN-DOH - Pleasant and an enjoyable flight. Landed on time. The problem was that my next flight to Doha- Oslo was leaving 9 hours later so pretty boring to wait so long. Great restaurant and food in the airport. B787 for the next flight. Good flight but I found out that the music didn't work and played different songs to those selected. Food was ok but I wish it was more. I sat on the back and didn't get my choice of food but that was ok. Landed on time at Oslo. I do recommend Qatar Airways.

TBS-DOH-MXP. Both aircraft's seemed relatively new but the heating made it unbearable (especially on the TBS-DOH leg). It felt like a sauna and even the crew agreed but couldn't do anything about it. The vegetarian meals I ordered were not inspiring. The light snacks are a piece of sweet and a piece of savoury. The savoury was just OK the sweet was dry and burned i.e: inedible. On board Staff were miss and go. Most of the crew (Asians and Arabs) were friendly and genuinely eager to please but some of the Eastern European ladies were cold and not very approachable. Doha Airport is new and impressive. My connection was 5 hours long and so I went to the Ortyx Lounge that charges around $40 (140QR). The Lounge was very busy (500+ people) and there is only one shower facility. Luckily I found a slot to shower else the onward flight would have been even more awful than the first. I was happy to got an emergency exit seat (10D) on the DOH - MXP flight to discover this was the worst possible choice of seat. It is on an 'angle' and so it provides even less legroom than the regular seats with people going in and out of toilet and the crew bumping into me non stop.

LHR-DOH on new A380 service. Interior very similar to Dreamliner - fantastic seat and big personal screen. Additional storage with side bins on the upper deck. Spent much of the flight in the Bar - very cool and whilst perhaps a bit of a gimmick it was very nice and with great service. Toilets were the poshest I have seen. These planes were a long time coming for Qatar but in my view well worth the wait - only trouble is it will make flying anything else (except perhaps their Dreamliner) a bit of a chore!

Manchester - Doha - Bangkok. Check in at Manchester excellent as usual given pass to Escape Lounge which in all MAN-DOH-DPS and BKK-DOH-MAN. Took these flights a couple of weeks ago and on every one of the 4 flights the service and the food were indeed 5 star quality. The service in the business class lounge at Doha was also excellent. The only gripe I would have on the flights is that the choice of movies is very poor - Premieres and recent releases I really don't think so.

Manchester - Doha - Bangkok. Check in at Manchester excellent as usual given pass to Escape Lounge which in all honesty isn't the best I’ve been in but as it was almost empty its OK to while away an hour or so plus they come and tell you when your gate is open. Unfortunately the usual carryon once in the departure area of people standing directly in front of the doors despite being told to sit down and wait for the announcements a few passengers tried to follow the wheelchairs through the doors. Priority boarding for business class and silver card holder resisted the temptations to smirk at the clowns still blocking the doorway and headed for the business cabin within a few minutes of boarding a flight attendant had already take my order for a drink so settled down and waited for takeoff. Bangkok to Doha is on Airbus 300 which I actually prefer to the Boeing 777 the cabin is smaller and I think more comfortable senior flight attendant introduced herself to all passengers and we then took off on time. Flight was very pleasant little turbulence so managed to consume all meals watch a few video and doze prior to arriving in Doha. The usual excellent Qatar staff advised on leaving the aircraft that you didn't need a pass for the lounge just to show your boarding card but as I was only in transit for 90 minutes I didn't have much time to spend there. Doha to Bangkok is on the 777 were the economy passengers have to troop though business so it seemed to take ages the cabin was hot and I don't usually feel the heat and stunk of perfume changed in the pyjamas (am I the only person who does) and tried to get some sleep prior to arriving Bangkok were the cabin crew handed out fast track passes on departing the aircraft. The return two weeks later was again a fine flight on both legs of the journey the only problem of your outward / return flight being in the same month is you have the same movies so stuck to the TV shows I'd missed spent almost 9 hours in transit in Doha thankfully the new brilliant new business lounge is open. Between Doha and Manchester I got a nose bleed and within minutes a was being tended to by 5 crew members with tissues towels and a bag of ice. Throughout the rest of the flight whichever member of the flight crew that passed checked I was OK or if I needed anything. I've seen some recent comments that Qatars very high standards have slipped quite a lot my experience is the complete opposite I've always believed their product to be vastly superior to their rivals in the gulf and nothing on my trip has changed my opinion that Qatar have by far the best cabin crew and ground staff around. I've already booked another two flights with my favourite airline.

787 from Doha to Brussels in Business. Just perfect! Great service very friendly staff new lounge excellent. Our first time with Qatar but for sure not the last! Even better than Emirates.