(uplifting music)
- Here we are,
we're at Hamad International Airport,
and today we're gonna be
trying out Business Class,
Qsuite style with Qatar Airways.
(speaking in foreign language)
Thank you, thank you so much.
- [Flight Attendant] Good morning to you.
Welcome on board.
Thank you, Mr. Torrez.
That'll be on the other side.
- Here we are onboard the
Qatar Airways new Qsuite.
This is exciting for a number of reasons.
Firstly,
it's on a A350-1000,
which is the extended
version of the A350-900.
It's a brand new aircraft.
It's absolutely wonderful.
It's new generation.
It's one of the reasons
it's so quiet onboard,
and it's a pleasure to be onboard.
Qatar Airways is getting deliveries
of -900s and -1000s.
There isn't much to choose between them,
but certainly the ones
that have this new products onboard,
the Qsuites,
are definitely worth searching out
if you're lucky enough
to fly in Business Class.
The tough problem
that Qatar Airways has,
and it's a great problem to have,
is it's already got a
fantastic Business Class.
It's the one that we've previous reviewed
on the B787 and the A350-900.
What they're doing now
is putting this new Qsuite onboard.
There've been a few teething
problems with doing so,
as there are with all
new Business Class seats.
It's something that other airlines
are having the same problem with,
United and Polaris for instance,
which is the name for
their Business Class.
But the roll-out is continuing,
and we're lucky enough today
to be on the new Qsuite.
So, what's different about Qsuite?
The first thing is
you have forward- and
backward-facing seats,
kind of like British Airways Club World,
except very, very different.
To begin with,
you have a 1-2-1 configuration
across the aircraft,
so it's very spacious.
You also have the ability to have
either a window seat
if you have the choice,
but also these center seats,
which have dividers between them,
but they also have the ability
for that divider to go down
and center doors to slide open,
so that you have four seats,
so like a family of four
or four business colleagues
can have a meeting together.
I think the ability for the seats
to have the central divider down
is a great thing.
I wonder how many people
will actually do this for.
I mean,
I've put them down now
so that you can see what it's like.
This is how they unlock the door.
So that's now,
it's got a special device.
I imagine
when they do the new version of this door,
this will be a lot easier.
Then these are the doors being opened.
You'd obviously have
to have the permission
of the other passengers
to do this.
These are obviously locked in position,
so it has to be unlocked.
Then those central dividers go back.
And then,
if you're very lucky,
you have four seats like this.
Okay,
so here it is with the
central divider down.
There's this control here.
You see that little thing there,
so I'm gonna press that.
Hopefully,
you'll still be able to tell me,
watch how quickly.
If your partner displeases you,
that's what you go for.
As you see,
the side seat lifts up,
and you've got storage underneath
where the bottle of water
and the headphones live,
and you could also put
some other things in there.
You can see there's plenty of power.
That triangular thing
just to the right
is for headphones,
then you've got USB,
and the power socket,
and then next to that
the touch screen handset,
which can be pushed out.
Like that.
This is what those
backward seats look like
when they've got the divider halfway down.
It goes a lot higher than that,
so if you didn't know the person,
it wouldn't be a disaster.
Those seats are E and F,
whereas these ones are D and G,
the forward-facing ones.
You can see there...
They've got the console
table in the middle.
Very different the seats
because obviously those
forward-facing ones
have got that pop-ups,
the sort of pop up and pop down armrest,
with storage underneath,
and that console table,
while these ones
that go into the double bed,
the console table is by the side there
so that the seats are close together,
and you can do that double bed
effect.
I'm just videoing
the seats going down fully flat.
When the central divider is down,
then you put that leather
thing in-between the two,
and as you can see,
creates a double bed.
When you are choosing the right seat,
bear in mind that
if you actually want to have it
as a double bed,
which is not made-up here,
but at least you can see
what the bed would be like
if you put bedding on it,
you do need rear-facing center seats.
The forward-facing ones,
obviously they have this table in-between,
excuse the mess
because it's got all my stuff on it,
so those are the forward-facing ones,
and you can't make
those into a double bed.
Clearly you can have a chat
to your neighbor,
so if you're maybe with a work colleague,
those forward-facing ones will be good
because you can put the divider down,
have a chat,
and then put the divider up
when you want to sleep
or have some privacy.
But these backward-facing seats
are the ones you'd want
if you wanted to make
them into a double bed.
Got a sinking feeling.
There's a lot of room for legs,
then it gets a bit cramped at the end.
Well, it's very long.
There's plenty of room,
particularly if you put
down the armrest here,
which creates more room
for your shoulders,
and there's plenty of room
for your feet as well,
so I think I'll be having
an afternoon sleep.
You can see here
I've put down the central reservation
between these two seats,
which are 4D and 4G,
they are forward-facing ones.
If I just go around this side,
you can see how
the configuration fits together,
so you've got 4D and 4G,
they're forward-facing,
and then you've got two
backward-facing ones in row 3.
The irony is that
there are actually quite
a few groups onboard
with either young children or teenagers,
and yet they've chosen window seats
assuming that those are the best seats,
and so as a result
they're all in the individual
seats along the side
when actually that's kind of what
these middle seats were designed for,
family groups,
maybe they know,
and maybe it's their choice.
The cabin starts in row 1
with these two center seats,
1E and 1F,
and then it's quite a complicated layout
simply because you've got
both forward- and backward-facing,
so you have pairs of seats in the middle,
and you have 1E and 1F here,
which is at the front of the cabin.
Those are backward-facing seats,
and then if we move forward,
you can see here
you've got another pair of seats,
but these are 2D and 2G,
so to do the...
It's not arithmetic,
but to do with the letters,
you'll see that
to actually get forward together,
you'd probably have to take advice
or look at the seat map
because the letters
don't correspond directly
to facing one another.
The reason for that is
because they're slightly staggered,
and as you can see,
the feet of one passenger,
let's take the example here of 1E,
then go,
and I hope this isn't making you ill,
swinging the camera around,
go under the table there,
and because of that
E then becomes D
here in 2D,
but you have these pairs,
forward- and backward-facing
right the way down the middle,
and obviously that's very convenient
if you want to put down
that central divider
because there are...
I'm in 3E,
backward-facing,
but you can see there 3F,
and then you've also got
those central slider parts
that you could make into a nice four
that you've probably seen
on the publicity material.
But then there's also the window seats,
and the window seats are great,
but again,
just like actually on BA,
now on BA
they're all backward-facing
on the windows,
but here you've got
forward- and backward-facing
for the same reason,
for the staggering,
so you have 1A here,
but then going down the same side,
you'll have 2B.
If I had a choice,
I'd probably choose the A one,
simply because you're by the window
and you've got a bit more privacy.
There's a sliding door,
but there's a bit more privacy
between you and the aisle,
so it goes
1A,
2B,
3A,
so it's worth a while
looking at the seat plan
if you do get the choice.
Depends how empty the flight is
and also depends if
you're in Business Class
in the first place,
but as you can see,
there's a fair amount of privacy,
but anyone walking by,
even with the door shut,
can look over,
so it's not like a First Class experience,
but it has a First Class layout
certainly in terms of these pairs.
I should also mention that
in this cabin there are
nine rows along the sides,
but ten rows of pairs,
and then there's a second
smaller cabin at the back,
and that has basically
a quad in the middle,
so four seats,
and then four seats at the sides as well,
so there's eight seats there
in a two rows of 1-2-1.
This is the main cabin,
just looking backwards
while in-flight.
We're lucky today
because the flight isn't too full.
This is a QR001 back to London,
and it's a lunchtime flight,
so you end up flying all day,
for that reason it's not hugely popular,
but you see here,
let me just go up,
so you can see more
of what the cabin's like.
I have checked
there's no one directly behind me,
and then if we go around,
it's the corridor.
It's the kind of thing
that you do expect in the First Class,
but obviously that's the whole thing,
it's about...
certainly when you speak to Mr. Al Baker,
Akbar Al Baker,
who's the Chief Executive,
the Chief of Qatar Airways,
when you ask him about First Class,
they only have First Class on the 8380,
so when you have a longer plane
like this one,
the 8350-1000,
there would've been an opportunity
to put First Class onboard,
in fact,
there's only Business and Economy,
you say to him,
"Why haven't you got First
"because it's really good on there,
"the 8380?"
and he says,
"Our Business Class is like First,"
because if you ask him
why he hasn't got Premium Economy,
he'll say,
"Because our Economy is
like Premium Economy."
From one point of view,
that's what you would expect
from an airline CEO,
but you do have to say,
there is no other Business
Class like this one.
It's very spacious,
but he actually has done the sums,
and with this forward- and backward-facing
he's actually losing no room
over the existing Business Class
that he has on the B787 and the 8350-900
with the old seats on.
I say old,
but two or three years.
So, it does make sense
from a Real Estate point of view
how it fits on the aircraft.
The experience of being on it
is absolutely wonderful,
I have to say.
The service, as you'd
expect, is fantastic.
It's good on the 787
and the other aircraft as well.
Warm welcome,
if you've got any Tier
Status with One World,
that's recognized
and mentioned
when they greet you.
They've already taken the orders.
We've only been flying for half an hour.
They've already taken the food orders
and the drink orders,
so there's no hanging around
even though it's a day flight.
I think often on day flights
there's that feeling of
we can take our time
because people want to
have the whole experience,
but it was immediately explained
you can have dine on demand,
which is great
because obviously you can dine
when you want to do,
but if you want to dine
when they're doing the main service,
then that's fine too,
and that's what I've gone for
so that I can show you it.
Just to show
we are listening to the feedback
that we get on videos,
on the previous review,
which was Singapore Airlines First Class,
which you can also find
on the YouTube channel,
we did kind of omit to
show much of the food,
so there's a real food focus on this one.
On a day flight like this,
I think the food and drink
does play a big part
in the Business Class experience,
and as you'd expect,
they've done a great job
for this day flight.
There's an a la carte
and dine on demand menu.
The soup of the day,
which as I've been told,
is white onion.
Then you've got appetizers,
two choices,
signature Arabic mezze,
which is hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanoush
served with Arabic bread,
which is what I've gone for,
and then poached prawns
on vegetable linguini
with seared lime and scallions,
which I didn't go for.
The mains are
chicken maqluba,
herb-crusted loin of lamb,
or vegetable jalfrezi,
and I've gone for the vegetable jalfrezi
because after spending 24 hours in Doha,
I've eaten an awful lot of meat,
and there's a selection of artisan breads.
You get the choice
of olive oil or butter with damp.
Then the desserts are
banoffee pudding,
fresh berries with almond syrup,
or gourmet ice cream selection.
Not bad.
The wine list.
It's the same wine actually
that's on the route out from Gatwick,
and we're flying back to Heathrow,
but it's a great list
because it's actually
Ramadan at the moment,
they're not bringing out the wines,
other than in a particular glass,
which is obviously fine
and culturally-sensitive.
But the champagnes,
just to show you here,
as opposed to the bottles,
you've got Pommery,
it's the standard champagne,
you've got Drappier Brut Rose.
The burgundy is now Bourgogne
Clos Vougeot,
and there's Sauvignon Blanc
New World Villa Maria.
The Discovery,
which is what they call the one
I guess that you discover,
it's the one I've tried.
Actually I've tried it on the way out
on the way back,
and I don't really like it discovered.
But anyway.
It's a Chenin Blanc from
South Africa, Cape Town.
I've just come back from Cape Town.
I love their wine,
it's lovely.
A Bordeaux,
that's along with the red,
Chateau Lynch-Moussas,
Grand Cru Classe Pauillac 2012,
Chateau Cadillac round,
that's a New World
Clear Valley, Australia.
The Discovery is a
Primitivo 2012 from Italy.
I'm gonna try that one actually,
Terre Del Grico.
Then they've also got a dessert wine,
which is Alvear Pedro Ximenez Solera 1927,
and then a Port Gran Cruz Porto 1992,
and then you've got spirits and cocktails,
some great brands in there.
For occupying the time,
if you haven't got work to do,
there's plenty.
You could just eat and drink
the whole seven hours
or if it's a further trip,
which the 8350-1000 obviously will go on,
you could just eat and drink
right your way through
the trip completely.
What's also great for
this dinning experience
is that you've got so much room,
so I was working just
before the food came along,
I could put my laptop to one side,
just where it is just there,
I've got this side thing
for my books,
and computer,
and mobile phone,
and notebook,
and then I've also got this giant table,
which is very firm.
I was just working on it before,
comes out on a slider here
and then folds out,
and then they put the stuff on it,
but you've got a real sense of space.
Even with this shut,
you don't need to have to worry
about being claustrophobic
because you've got this big area,
and then what you can't see on the camera,
but you've actually got space underneath,
so if you wanna stretch your legs down,
you've got plenty of
room to do that as well.
- Arabic mezze for you.
- Great.
Thank you.
- Would you like to try some drinks.
- Yeah.
Can I have this one?
- Sure, sir, certainly.
- Thank you.
Arabic mezze.
Arabic bread.
Non-Arabic bread.
Fantastic candle effect.
Butter,
plate for olive oil,
and proper salt and pepper.
Can't beat them.
If you've seen this before,
but it's...
I've only ever actually seen it
on the Fellow One World
Carrier British Airways,
it's a three-in-one bread.
I think it's done
by one of the caterers.
You've got three different types of bread,
but it's all in one bun
or one,
what do you call it,
loaf.
I'm not really sure what the point is,
why you couldn't just
have three different ones,
but it's a neat little touch.
Then you have olive oil,
whole butter to get with it.
I like this little touch.
Look.
Looks like there is actually a candle
on the table.
Cool.
That's a glass with
get choice of sparkling
water or still water.
This is the vegetable jalfrezi.
This is the in-plane entertainment system.
I've just gone through to movies,
you could see Hoolywood,
Arabic, Bollywood, Coming Soon.
Doing Hollywood.
Then you could just scroll through
and see all of the different films.
These are just the Hollywood ones.
What else have we got?
Let's have a look at
general entertainment.
TV.
Quite of some choice.
We're about an hour away
from landing in Heathrow.
It's been a very comfortable flight.
Had a decent sleep.
I've just woken up
with a state sandwich
and a cup of tea,
so that's been absolutely fantastic.
Going back to which are the best seats,
it's a really difficult one.
The window seats,
you can be both forward-
and backward-facing.
If you're forward-facing,
you're quite close to the aisle,
but then you've got the door,
so I don't think that's a deal-breaker,
so for an individual traveler,
I think those are probably best.
For two people,
if you're with just a work
colleague or something,
forward-facing will be good.
If you're with a partner,
like a wife,
I think backward-facing are the ones
because those are the ones that...
the only seats
that go into these double beds
because of the staggered
nature of the seating,
so you want a
backward-facing center seats.
Those would be E and F.
The ones I'm in here,
which are forward-facing,
are D and then on this side it is G.
That's quite complicated
with the different sets of seating,
but I think
when you have a look at the video,
you can work it out.
With forward- and backward-facing,
close to the aisle,
not close to the aisle,
and whether you can put the seats
together as a double bed,
there's certainly a true choice.
You just wanna make sure
that when you book,
you make that choice,
so that you don't end up
in the wrong seat.
The other thing
that you can do is
if you're in four,
or as they call it a quad,
you can request
for these center forward and halved doors
to be open
so that you can maintain eye contact
with your children
or your loved one
during takeoff and landing,
which is a really useful thing,
and I think unique.
We're coming to the end of the flight now.
I hope you found this one useful.
Any comments,
please leave them on the YouTube channel,
and we'll see you again
for the next flight champ.
Many thanks.
(uplifting music)
